Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle are just three of the clubs still scrambling to complete their business in the last week of the January transfer window.
The winter market has historically been a time of extreme panic buying from the Premier League’s elite clubs as they look to correct a faltering season.
And occasionally that can mean teams waste a whole lot of time, effort and, worst of all, money.
Here, talkSPORT.com looks at some of the worst offenders…
Fernando Torres
We did not see the lethal Spaniard who terrorised defenders at Liverpool following his £50million move to Stamford Bridge in January 2011.
He scored just 20 goals in 110 league games for Chelsea and who can forget that horrendous open goal miss against Manchester United in the first year of his spell.
Torres would eventually win the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League with the Blues but he remained a shadow of his former self.
Andy Carroll
The Newcastle striker found himself at Anfield after Liverpool scrambled to find a late replacement for Torres on a busy deadline day in 2011.
The Reds splashed £35m of the £50m they’d just been given by Chelsea to make Carroll the then most expensive British footballer in history.
He managed just 11 goals in 58 games in all competitions before leaving for West Ham.
Konstantinos Mitroglou
The Greek international was brought to England for £12m in January 2014 as Fulham unsuccessfully fought off relegation from the Premier League.
Calling his impact negligible is an overstatement; he managed just one start and two substitute appearances for the West Londoners.
Mitroglou then returned to Olympiakos on a season-long loan for the 2014/15 campaign to leave Fulham battle the Championship without him.
Chris Samba
Samba’s club-record £12.5m transfer to QPR in January 2013 was a statement of intent by both Harry Redknapp and owner Tony Fernandes.
The centre-back was snapped from Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala with the hope he could turn the tide on the club’s disastrous start to the season.
Yet Samba couldn’t keep QPR in the Premier League with his most memorable moment being his spat with fans after a disastrous performance against Fulham before he returned to his former club in the summer.
Ravel Morrison
Sir Alex Ferguson famously told Sam Allardyce of Morrison when he signed him on deadline day 2012: “A brilliant footballer. Brilliant ability. Top class ability. Needs to get away from Manchester and start a new life.”
To Morrison’s credit, he initially grabbed his chance during the early stages of the 2013/14 campaign after a productive loan at Birmingham City.
He scored West Ham’s goal of the season in a 3-0 win over Tottenham before things turned sour and he was shipped out on loan to Queens Park Rangers for the second half of that campaign.
Morrison eventually left the east London outfit in February 2015 after his contract was terminated.
Juan Cuadrado
Cuadrado failed to make an impression at Stamford Bridge following his £21m move from Fiorentina in January 2015.
The 33-year-old was one of the stars of the 2014 World Cup for Colombia but he was never really given a chance under Jose Mourinho.
Cuadrado made just 15 outings for Chelsea before spending two years on loan at Juventus – eventually making the move permanent in 2017.
Afonso Alves
The Brazilian looked to have been the man for Middlesbrough to fix their problems in front of goal when he arrived from Heerenveen for £12.5m in 2008.
Alves bagged six times in his first 11 league outings but his four goal return in the whole of the 2008-09 season failed to keep the club in the top-flight.
Boro were relegated, Gareth Southgate was soon sacked but not before Alves had jumped ship to join Al-Sadd in Qatar that summer.
Benjani Mwaruwari
Harry Redknapp famously tells the story that he had to push Benjani onto a plane to Man City when Portsmouth were offered nearly £5m for his services.
The Zimbabwean did manage to score on his debut in the derby, but managed just two more all season – one of which was against his former club.
He was shipped out on loan to Sunderland before his City contract expired in 2010 after just 31 games and he soon ended up at Blackburn.
Eric Djemba-Djemba
The Cameroonian has gone down in Man United folklore as one of the club’s worst-ever signings during his 18 months at Old Trafford.
So it’s difficult to understand what Aston Villa were thinking when they paid an initial £1.5m to sign him on deadline day 2005.
Unsurprisingly, Djemba-Djemba played just 11 league games for the Villains before he was loaned to Burnley and his contract was terminated.
Benni McCarthy
McCarthy made 14 appearances and failed to score a goal for West Ham after his £2.2m move from Blackburn Rovers on deadline day 2010.
The South African also fell out with the club’s hierarchy in his year stint after he was fined £200,000 for failing to adhere to a weight-loss regime.
Hammers vice-chairman Karren Brady added insult to injury after labelling his signing a ‘big fat mistake’, as reported by Sky Sports.
