Haaland 1st, Sancho 46th: Ranking last 48 Premier League signings from Bundesliga
Is Bundesliga tax fact or fiction? Over the years, signings from Germany have flopped in the Premier League, though the standard is improving.
With that in mind, we have ranked every Bundesliga signing from the last three Premier League seasons, not including the 2024 summer transfer window.
That means success story Gundogan and disappointment Henrikh Mkhitaryan do not feature in this list, because every player to move to the Premier League from the Bundesliga would be excessive, unnecessary, and quite frankly, far too much work.
48) Jean-Kevin Augustin (Leeds)
Arguably the worst transfer of all time, this one.
Leeds signed Augustin on loan when they were in the Championship, including an obligation to buy if they were promoted. They were promoted, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, not until June, which was apparently past the deadline for meeting that obligation. They tried to wriggle their way out of paying the transfer fee but this one went to court, and not in Leeds’ favour.
They ended up paying £40million for a player who played 48 minutes for them. Big yikes.
47) Giovanni Reyna (Nottingham Forest)
Forest signed Reyna on loan for the second half of last season and didn’t do much at all.
46) Jadon Sancho (Manchester United)
Every time Sancho gets a mention on this website, it tends to be for all the wrong reasons. Unless you are Lewis Oldham, who backed the £73m Red Devils flop to be Erik ten Hag’s biggest success story. The big yikes counter is at two already.
After being chased by the club for over a year, Sancho has so far paid United back with a number of anonymous performances and has looked a shell of the man who notched 89 goal contributions for Borussia Dortmund in 104 Bundesliga appearances.
He might get a second chance after putting water under the bridge with Ten Hag. Or Man Utd have hoodwinked clubs into paying their asking price by making it look like all is well.
45) Ozan Kabak (Norwich)
After an underwhelming loan spell with Liverpool (more on that soon) Kabak managed to get another bite at the Premier League cherry. This time, he helped Norwich get relegated.
44) Milot Rashica (Norwich)
Norwich signed Kosovan forward Rashica in the same summer they brought in Kabak on loan. He joined after a decent spell at Werder Bremen, but he could not adapt to life in England and joined Galatasaray on loan in September 2022 and permanently a year later after making four Championship appearances. In the Premier League, Rashica scored once in 31 matches.
43) Kevin Mbabu (Fulham)
This was a bizarre one. Fulham signed Mbabu for a measly £4m and has barely played.
42) Naouirou Ahamada (Crystal Palace)
We are not convinced this guy actually exists. He somehow has 31 appearances for Palace.
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41) Sasa Kalajdzic (Wolves)
Looking to be a big flop. Literally. The guy is huge.
40) Omar Richards (Nottingham Forest)
Richards got injured right away and is yet to play for Forest. He spent last season on loan at Olympiacos and only appeared 14 times for the Europa Conerence League winner.
39) Wout Weghorst (Burnley)
For a while, Burnley couldn’t be relegated. It was impossible. Their survival was inevitable. That was until big Wout Weghorst came along. Two goals in 20 league matches succumbed the Clarets to a year in the Championship. Twelve million quid the big Dutchman cost them.
38) Ozan Kabak (Liverpool)
Kabak received more laughs than praise during his time at Anfield.
37) Moussa Diaby (Aston Villa)
Underwhelming debut season and he might be off to Saudi Arabia already!
Diaby joined with high expectations and started well before being outshone by and dropped courtesy of another former Bayer Leverkusen player in Leon Bailey.
If Aston Villa can recoup the initial £35m they paid for the Frenchman, they won’t be too bothered by his floppiness.
36) Mahmoud Dahoud (Brighton)
A free transfer many had big expectations of, Dahoud struggled in his six months in the Premier League before being loaned out to Stuttgart.
35) Ademola Lookman (Fulham)
Lookman, like Kabak, features twice on this list. Also like the Turkish defender, both transfers from the Bundesliga were loans. The winger didn’t do much for Fulham and cost them a loan fee, whereas he did not for Leicester and had a more memorable spell at the King Power, which is why this move ranks a bit lower.
His incredible exploits at Atalanta make this signing look even worse.
34) Chris Richards (Crystal Palace)
Richards joined Palace for around £10m in July 2022 and minutes have been hard to come by.
33) Orel Mangala (Nottingham Forest)
Mangala joined from Stuttgart and managed two goal contributions in 27 league matches in 22/23. Forest got themselves out of a PSR pickle by selling him to Lyon.
32) Ademola Lookman (Leicester)
Spent 21/22 with Leicester before returning to Atalanta. Lookman scored six in 26 Premier League games.
31) Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool)
There is a lot more to come from Gravenberch.
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30) Armel Bella-Kotchap (Southampton)
The young German impressed us early on after making the move from Vfl Bochum. After a strong start, the wheels fell off the Southampton bus and they were relegated.
They are back in the big time after winning the play-offs. Bella-Kotchap was not there for that and it is unclear if he will stay or go this summer after a season at PSV.
29) Georginio Rutter (Leeds)
His Championship form was excellent but not enough to get Leeds promoted. His signing in January 2023 was a big mistake in their bid to stay up. Regardless, Rutter looks like he can become the real deal.
28) Marc Roca (Leeds)
Struggled whenever he didn’t have Tyler Adams next to him and could not adapt to the physicality of Our League. Roca is decent enough on the ball and probably did just about enough to justify the £8m Leeds paid to sign him.
27) Kevin Schade (Brentford)
Doesn’t score or assist enough yet but Schade’s game goes further than that. Brentford paid around £20m to sign the 21-year-old from Freiburg and were disappointed to lose him for 27 league matches through injury.
26) Jacob Bruun Larsen (Burnley)
Larsen scored seven goals in 36 Burnley matches during his one-year loan from Hoffenheim. Not bad.
25) Josh Sargent (Norwich)
American international Sargent would be next to Rashica on this list if it wasn’t for a decent Championship season in a dysfunctional team. Norwich went down in 2021/22 as Sargent scored two in 26 Premier League appearances, both of which came in the same game. Twenty-nine goals in two Championship seasons means all is far from being lost.
24) Jordan Beyer (Burnley)
Burnley bought Beyer from Borussia Monchengladbach after a solid season on loan, helping them earn promotion up to the Premier League. The jump was too big for most at Turf Moor, including near enough all of their new signings.
23) Timo Werner (Chelsea)
The huge £50m fee Chelsea paid to sign Werner was definitely a waste of money. Saying that, he was not as bad as people make out.
22) Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool)
Szoboszlai is a player we really like but the second half of last season and Euro 2024 was bitterly disappointing.
21) Mark Flekken (Brentford)
Flekken has been fine for Brentford. Not outstanding but not bad by any stretch.
20) Konstantinos Mavropanos (West Ham)
Great for Stuttgart, average at best for West Ham. Mavropanos in 20th shows just how far Bundesliga signings have come.
19) Wataru Endo (Liverpool)
Got better every time he played for Liverpool. £15m is a steal as well. You know what you get from him, really.
18) Leon Bailey (Aston Villa)
Signed from Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen for a cool £25m in 2021, Bailey failed to hit the heights expected of him in his first year for Villa. Last year, we said ‘2023/24 is his last chance to prove himself at Villa Park’ and he did just that. Bailey was fantastic.
17) Demarai Gray (Everton)
Everton got Gray for a measly £1.5m and he did not live up to that price tag. In a good way, this time.
16) Moussa Niakhate (Nottingham Forest)
One of 400 signings made by Nottingham Forest before 22/23, Niakhate left Mainz – where he was captain – to take on his first challenge in England.
Niakhate was pretty solid for Forest but not a £27m player, we don’t think. That is what they got for him from Lyon, making it £47m in total for him and Mangala. Good going, that. Especially when you consider Niakhate only cost Forest around £8m.
15) Tyler Adams (Leeds)
Leeds made some questionable signings before their relegation season, but Tyler Adams was a brilliant one. For every Brenden Aaronson, there is an Adams and Willy Gnonto, as the famous saying goes.
The American international left for Bournemouth after his single year at Leeds made it clear that he is far too good for the Championship.
14) Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea)
This guy joined with huge expectations and for a respectable £51m but injuries makes his debut season hard to judge.
13) Marcel Sabitzer (Manchester United)
Signed on loan for the second half of last season, Sabitzer filled a gap for Erik ten Hag and barely put a foot wrong at Old Trafford. His form at Borussia Dortmund and for Austria at Euro 2024 will have been hard for Man Utd to stomach. He has been brilliant. And they could have had him for £15m!
12) Robin Koch (Leeds)
Koch is decent in the air, comfortable on the ball, versatile, rarely injured, but not the most convincing defender in the world. The 28-year-old was an unused substitute in all of Germany’s Euro 2024 matches.
11) Stefan Ortega (Manchester City)
City landed Ortega on a free transfer in the summer of 2022. As far as back-up goalkeepers go, the German is one of the best in the world.
10) Hee-chan Hwang (Wolves)
You know what you will get from Hwang: lots of energy and goals at a rate you can’t be disappointed by. He has improved massively under Gary O’Neil.
9) Thiago (Liverpool)
Thiago was an outstanding technician and has decided to call it a day on his playing career after another year riddled with injuries.
Despite his fitness issues, Thiago has still been a good signing; especially considering the Reds only paid £20m to sign him from Bayern Munich.
8) Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace)
Mateta cost close to £10m in January 2022 and took a while to get going, but when he did, bloody hell, he has been impossible to stop.
Life under Oliver Glasner is all sunshine and rainbows for the big Frenchman, who finished the season with 16 league goals after scoring two in his first 19 appearances in 22/23 and eight in 77 in total.
7) Kai Havertz (Chelsea)
Struggled when he joined, then scored the winning goal in a Champions League final, became even worse, but left for £65m. That goal and the fact Chelsea recouped the vast majority of the £72m for Havertz sees him as high as seventh.
6) Taiwo Awoniyi (Nottingham Forest)
“I also think that Taiwo Awoniyi will score two league goals all season”. That is what this idiot said in our 22/23 pre-season predictions.
Awoniyi proved me wrong, scoring a very respectable 10 in 27. Six of those came in the last four Premier League matches of the season and went a very long way to keeping Forest in the top flight. In those final four fixtures, without former Union Berlin striker Awoniyi’s goals, the Reds would have got one point. They hugely benefited from his goals and picked up eight from a possible 12.
Recency bias shall not prevail and see Hwang and Mateta stand above him. Without Awoniyi, Nottingham Forest would be in the Championship and probably absolutely f***ed from the signings they made in 2022.
5) Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool)
Like Thiago, Konate does have his injury troubles, and like Thiago, that has impacted his position in our ranking.
Nevertheless, when he is fit Konate forms a terrific partnership with Virgil van Dijk. £36m is a bargain for a fit Konate.
4) Josko Gvardiol (Manchester City)
Big, big money for Gvardiol (£77m) but he will be worth it in the long run.
3) Micky van de Ven (Tottenham)
Van de Ven looks some player. His pace is frightening. He can defend as well, which helps. The fact he cost half of Gvardiol’s transfer fee sees him sit above the Croatian.
📣 TO THE COMMENTS! Do you agree with our ranking? Join the debate here.
2) Manuel Akanji (Manchester City)
Nobody really expected much from Akanji when he joined from Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund but proved to everyone he is a top-class defender in his first 12 months at Manchester City.
The Swiss international played superbly as a central defender and even more impressively as a left-back. It turns out having out-and-out defenders in the full-back role makes you impossible to beat.
1) Erling Haaland (Manchester City)
City should do business with Dortmund more often. Akanji has been excellent, Ilkay Gundogan’s £21m move in 2016 turned out to be one of the best signings in the club’s history, and Haaland has been…ridiculously impressive.
Signed to win City the Champions League, he did just that at the first attempt as his new team completed the Treble. A whopping 52 goals in 53 games in his debut season ws a simply outrageous return.
👉 The ridiculous stats of Erling Haaland: Champions League top scorer twice
