Premier League Flops of the Season XI

Here we have chosen our Premier League flops of the season XI from the 2022/23 campaign. Take a look below and see our reasonings as to why each player has been chosen.

Gavin Bazunu was the youngster drafted in by Southampton to take over from Alex McCarthy. At only 21 years old, the only experience Bazunu had before his move to Southampton was 73 appearances for Rochdale and Portsmouth on loan.

This was clearly not enough experience for a young keeper who was thrown straight into a tough relegation battle in the hardest league in the world. Though Southampton didn’t concede the most goals in the Premier League, conceding 73 goals in comparison to Leeds’ 78, they still had a poor enough defensive record to see The Saints relegated after 11 years back in the top flight.

Djed Spence’s first season with Tottenham was far from the dream move the youngster was looking for after his more than impressive 2021/22 season with Nottingham Forest. A £20 million price tag was slapped on Spence after helping Forest to promotion, and for his prospective talent, this seemed a wise investment for Spurs.

However, for whatever reason, Spence and their manager at the time Antonio Conte did not seem impressed, and after only four appearances Spence was sent on loan to Rennes. However, this move was also somewhat of a dud for Spence as he only made eight appearances for the French side.

Another signing for Chelsea that underwhelmed massively this season. The centre-back’s move to Stamford Bridge was about three seasons too late and for far too much in the end, a whopping £33 million.

Koulibaly’s season started relatively well, his first few appearances going without a hitch, even bagging a goal against Tottenham. However, the rest of his season was rather unimpressive for the amount of hype surrounding him in the last few seasons.

His season was littered with mistakes and overall encapsulated Chelsea’s defence this season, definitely not the John Terry replacement Chelsea fans were hoping for when Koulibaly took the number 26 for The Blues.

The summer transfer window looked like a successful one for Southampton ahead of the 2022/23 season. One of the most promising acquisitions was Croatian Duje Caleta Car from Marseille. An international player for Croatia and a respected centre back across Europe, Caleta Car looked to be the new rock in Southampton’s defence, however, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Caleta Car only made 13 appearances for The Saints, scoring one goal, before falling out with manager Nathan Jones. This conflict led to Caleta Car being sent to play for the Southampton development team. Definitely not the first season in the Premier League the Croatian would’ve been hoping for.

Marc Cucurella earned a big-money move to Chelsea this summer after an impressive first season in the Premier League with Brighton. This, paired with his Brighton manager Graham Potter being brought into Chelsea after the departure of Thomas Tuchel, boded well for the Spaniard.

However, his first season in blue did not go to plan. Cucurella made 24 appearances for Chelsea this season and contributed to Chelsea’s worst finish since the late 1990s. A mixture of mistakes, poor attacking contributions and a big price tag of £55 million plus add-ons have Chelsea looking to sell him after just one season.

Arthur Melo was a strange addition to the Liverpool squad last summer, being a player somewhat stuck in purgatory having moved from Barcelona to Juventus without solid minutes.

With Liverpool’s ageing midfield, a 26-year-old Melo could’ve been the answer for Jurgen Klopp, originally coming on a loan with an option to buy for £37.5 million. However, when Melo arrived in England he was already injured from his time at Juventus.

This meant that in his season-long loan, Melo made just one appearance for Liverpool, totalling only 13 minutes, making his loan one of the most disappointing in recent years.

An easy choice for a flop this season is Kalvin Phillips. Though the Englishman’s trophy cabinet got quite an upgrade with a Premier League winners medal and an FA Cup winners medal, Phillips can’t take too much credit for Manchester City’s dominance this season.

Phillips signed for City from Leeds for £42 million plus add-ons with the hope of solidifying his position in Pep Guardiola’s midfield as well as keeping a hold of his starting position for England under Gareth Southgate. However, Phillip’s season didn't quite pan out this way, making just 12 appearances all season and only grabbing his first start in January.

There was a time when Philippe Coutinho was considered one of the greatest attacking talents in the world, but the Brazilian’s downfall has been a baffling sight. Coutinho’s big-money move to Barcelona signalled the start of the end, with Coutinho failing to inspire in Spain.

A failed loan to Bayern Munich led to Coutinho earning himself a loan to Aston Villa. This loan was successful with Coutinho scoring five times in 19 appearances. However, his £17 million permanent move to Villa hasn’t worked out as well as either party would’ve hoped with just one goal in 20 appearances.

Mudryk sparked excitement in the Premier League after London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea both chased him for his signature during the January transfer window. Chelsea got their man in the end, but it hasn’t been the dream start the Ukrainian would’ve wanted.

The £62 million price tag meant that many had big expectations for the winger but they have yet to be met. The Ukrainian has made 15 appearances thus far for The Blues and has failed to score, being a part of the frustrating Chelsea team this season that just seemed incapable of regularly finding the back of the net.

Gianluca Scamacca looked to be one of the most promising signings of the season for West Ham. The 24-year-old was brought in from Sassuolo where he had some promising showings as well as impressive loan moves to Ascoli and Genoa where he scored nine goals in 33 appearances and eight goals in 26 appearances respectively.

However, the Italian has failed to inspire with The Hammers. In his limited 16 appearances, Scamacca only scored on three occasions. This is especially disappointing when considering his high price point. Scamacca made his move to London for a staggering £30.5 million with £5 million in add-ons, only time will tell if this was a wise investment for West Ham.

In the summer of 2022, Richarlison swapped Everton for Tottenham, looking to battle it out with Harry Kane for the starting spot up front. Richarlison signed for an impressive £50 million under Antonio Conte but has had a tough start to his Tottenham career.

In 27 appearances, Richarlison has only hit the target once. This goal came against Liverpool, where the Brazilian thought he had bagged a 93rd-minute equaliser for Spurs and celebrated in lavish fashion. However, Diogo Jota’s winner not even a minute later made Richarlison’s celebration obsolete and one of the funniest moments of the season.

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