TOP OF THE FLOPS XI

Robinho, Milner, Dossena - worth the money?

Hot on the heels of our best team of those who have moved clubs in the Premier League this summer, here comes our 'worst' team of the transfer window.

'Worst' will mean different things to different people so we've tried to evaluate signings in terms of transfer fee paid, wages and role at the new club, however, due to the number of undisclosed transfer fees there is an element of guesswork on our part.

Is there anyone we've missed? What would your team be? This issue has already been hotly debated in the office so feel free to let us know your views by clicking on the feedback link at the bottom of the article or by emailing editorial@sportinglife.com.

1. Paul Robinson

Tottenham - Blackburn (£3.5million)

Robinson may have won his place back in Fabio Capello's England squad but we remain far from convinced he can rediscover his early promise under Paul Ince at Rovers.

A couple of shaky moments in the opening games of the season have done nothing to dispel that opinion and having ended around £1million down after selling Brad Friedel to Aston Villa and bringing in Robinson, this doesn't look like a particularly good piece of business by Ince.

2. Mikael Silvestre

Man Utd - Arsenal (undisclosed)

Arsene Wenger went against his usual policy by bringing in the 31-year-old from Manchester United.

While Silvestre may have been a good signing for the likes of Everton or Aston Villa, this seems a strange one for the Gunners given they shipped out Philippe Senderos to AC Milan on loan.

And with the defender claiming he chose to leave Old Trafford for the Emirates for first-team football, this one has disaster written all over it.

3.Andrea Dossena

Udinese - Liverpool (undisclosed)

In a summer when many Liverpool fans were calling for boss Rafael Benitez to spend big to add real quality to his side, the Spaniard replaced John Arne Riise, now at Roma, with the virtually unknown defender Dossena.

Having spent around £7.5million on the 26-year-old Reds fans won't have been overly impressed with his early performances.

He may well be a decent left-back but he doesn't look like he will add much to Benitez's side.

4. Anthony Gardner

Tottenham - Hull (£2.5million)

Gardner was once tipped as a successor to Sol Campbell at Spurs but injuries have plagued his career.

Shipped out on loan to Everton last January after featuring just six times for Spurs, Gardner did not play at all for the Toffees. An initial loan move to the Premier League new boys Hull seemed to make sense but making the deal permanent for £2.5million shortly afterwards smacks of desperation on the part of Tigers boss Phil Brown.

5. Abdoulaye Meite

Bolton - West Brom (£2million)

Meite's move to West Brom is one of the more baffling transfers of the summer. Labelled by our resident Trotter's fan Chris Hammer as an "embarrassment", the French-born Ivory Coast international caused controversy last season by refusing to play the second half of a clash against Manchester United last season after being blamed for the loss of two goals by boss Gary Megson.

Given he is often clumsy and is regularly caught out positionally, Meite does not seem like the ideal player to bring in for a likely relegation battle and the Trotters must have been laughing all the way to the bank when the Baggies paid £2million for his services.

6.Amdy Faye

Charlton - Stoke (undisclosed)

Another of those players who makes you wonder how they have managed to carve out a career at the top level for so long. After an initally impressive spell at Portsmouth between 2003 and 2005, the midfielder has since then flopped at Newcastle, Charlton and on loan at Rangers.

That he was hauled off at half time on his Gers debut against Hearts after an abysmal showing and rarey featured afterwards before being offloaded by Charlton suggests Faye is simply not good enough for the Premier League. His red card against Middlesbrough for a two-footed tackle with the game at 0-0 will only have reinforced that opinion.

7. James Milner

Newcastle - Aston Villa (undisclosed)

Possibly a controversial choice as Milner is clearly a good player, but is he really worth £12million? Just two years ago following a loan spell at Villa the two clubs had agreed a fee of around £4million to take the midfielder to the Midlands although talks then broke down.

How has Milner's value trebled in that time? Well, he hasn't yet won an England cap although that may come soon and despite being capable of setting up and scoring goals, he just isn't consistent enough to justify his huge transfer fee.

Martin O'Neill hasn't got too much wrong in the transfer market at Villa, but the jury is very much out on this one.

8. Robinho

Real Madrid - Man City (£32.5million)

Like Milner, Robinho is clearly a quality player and is certainly better than anything City possess at the moment. But for a British-record transfer fee of £32.5million it's simply not a good piece of business.

Only four players have ever cost more than the Brazilian - three of them among the best ever to have played the game in Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Gianluigi Buffon, with Hernan Crespo being the other.

For the fee, Robinho should be among the top five or ten players in the world and he's nowhere near that at the moment. His actions in winning a move away from Madrid were shameful and he would probably have gone to Swansea had they paid him £100,000-per-week.

Chelsea clearly didn't value him at £32.5million and that City were the only ones willing to pay that says it all.

11. Jerome Thomas

Charlton - Portsmouth (undisclosed)

Charlton boss Alan Pardew is probably still trying to work out how he has managed to ship out Amdy Faye and Jerome Thomas to Premier League clubs.

Winger Thomas is a half-decent player at Championship level but seems a bizarre signing for a club with ambitions of challenging for a UEFA Cup spot.

Thomas may not have been bought to be a regular starter by Harry Redknapp but with finances tight at Fratton Park, that they paid a fee for the 25-year-old is enough to merit a place in our side.

9.Johan Elmander

Toulouse - Bolton (undisclosed)

The Swede may be a completely different player to Nicolas Anelka but the comparisons have invevitably been made after Trotters boss Gary Megson splashed out a club record fee of £10-£12million for the Toulouse forward.

Again, we are not doubting Elmander's ability. He has been a very decent player for Sweden over the years and was a star performer in Ligue 1 for Toulouse but given that he moved to France two years ago for around £3million, averaging a goal every three games in a no more than decent league is not enough to see his fee quadruple.

For a club-record fee Elmander will be expected to score around 15 goals for Bolton but has yet to prove himself at the top level. This signing could make or break Megson at the Reebok.

10. Louis Saha (undisclosed)

Man Utd - Everton

The injury-prone Frenchman's move from Old Trafford to Goodison came as a bit of a surprise but what is not surprising is that Sir Alex Ferguson finally lost his patience with the former Fulham man.

The argument goes that when Saha is fit he scores goals but after years of injury problems, he could struggle at the age of 30 to recapture his best form, especially at a team who create a fraction of the chances United do.

The fee is officially undisclosed but David Moyes has suggested that the striker joined on a free transfer on a pay-as-you-play deal. But even then Saha will not come cheap and he wil need to score plenty.

He may turn out to be decent value but Saha was surely not anywhere near the top of Moyes' shortlist for a new striker at the beginning of the summer.

Substitues:

Nick Colgan

unnatached - Sunderland

With Craig Gordon, Martin Fulop and Darren Ward on their books, this seems a bizarre signing by Roy Keane as Colgan has never been a particularly impressive goalkeeper.

Marouane Fellaini

Standard Liege - Everton (£15million)

Impressed against Liverpool in the Champions League and looks a good prospect but for £15million and late on deadline day, this is surely the biggest panic buy of the window.

Keith Andrews

MK Dons - Blackburn (undisclosed)

Perhaps a slightly harsh choice but given that Paul Ince reckons he can "obviously step up to the Premier League" it suggests he has an important role in mind for the 27-year-old who made one top-flight appearance for Wolves.

Fabrice Muamba

Birmingham - Bolton (undisclosed)

Joined the Trotters for a reported £4-5million, he caught the eye only in spells for Birmingham. Like Elmander, a huge risk for a team likely to be struggling at the bottom.

Andy Johnson

Everton - Fulham

Fulham's first £10million-plus signing since Steve Marlet, Johnson enjoyed a good spell at Crystal Palace before moving onto Everton where he started well but faded. Still has much to prove in the Premier League and represents a massive gamble.