Alvaro Morata may be the topic today, but there has always been lots of transfer activity between La Liga and Premier League clubs; lots of the players typically moving from Spain to England. Despite successful moves, there have also been many players who have had short, unsuccessful spells.

5. Lucas Perez


Although Lucas Perez may never have been Arsene Wenger’s first choice when it came to buying a striker in the summer of 2016, he had still scored 17 La Liga goals the previous season and was expected to be a very good utility player for the Gunners.

However, just one season on from that signing, Perez has re-joined Deportivo. Albeit on loan, but he doesn’t look likely to ever step foot in London again unless it is to be for a new club.

4. Roberto Soldado


The Spaniard had scored 24 goals in the 2012/13 La Liga season and a total of 59 goals in 101 league games for Valencia, meaning his ratio was better than a goal every two games. Signing for Tottenham seemed to be the perfect move for him, having already made one step up from Getafe to Valencia after leaving Real Madrid in 2008.

But he never reached the heights in England that he did in Spain; 16 in 76 in all competitions, he moved back to Spain and joined Villarreal.

3. Nolito


Pep Guardiola has been hailed for his transfers and time in England, especially this season given how spectacular his team has been. But, Nolito was a transfer that he got wrong. Moving from Celta Vigo, Nolito was a high profile transfer as he was a La Masia graduate.

Nolito is clearly a very talented footballer, Guardiola buying him is enough to tell anyone that. However, his move to the Premier League just never worked out like it was supposed to.

2. Robinho


Like Nolito, Robinho was another player who moved to Manchester City, but in a different period. Robinho had just won two successive La Liga titles with Real Madrid in 2007 and 2008, playing 32 games in both seasons before joining Manchester City.

In 41 appearances, he scored 14 goals for City. While he was their top scorer in his first season, he lasted just half a season more as his attitude became glaringly worse.

Signing for £32.5 million and breaking the English transfer record at the time; everybody expected Robinho to light up the Premier League with his skills, but the transfer never worked out.

1. Angel Di Maria


Signing for £59.7 million in 2014, Angel Di Maria was the most expensive player a British club had ever bought. However, just a year later, the Argentinian was already out the door at Old Trafford and moved to PSG.

He was to bring a great amount of creativity to United. United were struggling after the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. Initially, it looked like he was going to do exactly that and pull the strings for the Red Devils. But it all turned sour after a while.

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