The Top 10 WORST January transfer window signings

Yesterday we argued that the January transfer window isn't just about desperate managers making ill-informed panic buys or pay over-the-odds for other clubs' cast-offs .

Although, it must be said, that it quite often is, as this Top 10 of rubbish buys proves:

10) Afonso Alves (Heerenveen to Middlesbrough, £12m, 2008)
Proof that holding a Brazilian passport doesn't automatically make you a footballing God, Afonso Alves pitched up at the Riverside on transfer deadline day with a CV boasting 45 goals in 39 starts for his previous club. Unfortunately for long-suffering Boro fans, that club was Heerenveen in the somewhat shonky Dutch league. Alves' return of nine goals from 29 Premier League matches tells its own story…

9) Rade Prica (Aalborg to Sunderland, £2m, 2008)
Recently departed Sunderland boss Roy Keane admitted that he would often buy players and then realise a week or so later that he didn't rate them. Presumably Rade Prica was at the forefront of his mind at the time. After scoring his only goal for the club on his debut against Birmingham, the Swedish striker promptly sunk without trace, starting just five more games for the Black Cats.

8) Hossam Ghaly (Feyenoord toTottenham, undisclosed fee, 2006)
After a promising start, Hossam Ghaly's Spurs soon dived off a cliff. Which is apt, because the Egyptian midfielder spent most of his time diving in opponents' penalty boxes. Events came to a head in May 2007 when Ghaly threw his shirt to the ground after being substituted against Blackburn. He never played for the club again.

7) Scott Carson (Leeds to Liverpool, £750k, 2005)
Rafa Benitez took an expensive punt on one of Britain's brightest goalkeeping prospects despite him having played just three times for Leeds. At least Carson managed to treble that tally for Liverpool before being shunted out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton and Aston Villa before finally limping off to West Brom last summer.

6) Marlon King (Watford to Wigan, £4m, 2008)
Despite missing almost all of Watford's disastrous 2006/07 Premier League campaign, Marlon King's reasonably prolific strike rate in the Championship persuaded Steve Bruce to take a pricey punt last January. One goal in fifteen league starts later, the forward was unceremoniously shipped out to newly promoted Hull City on a season-long loan.

5) Andy Reid (Nottingham Forest to Tottenham, £4m, 2005)
Signed as part of a package that also took Michael Dawson to Spurs, Andy Reid's mercifully brief tenure at White Hart Lane will be remembered more for his ever-increasing girth rather than the solitary goal he notched in a 5-1 rout of Aston Villa. Spurs were more than happy to take a £1m hit when they offloaded him to Charlton the following August.

4) Jean-Alain Boumsong (Rangers to Newcastle, £8m, 2005)
The Cameroon defender arrived at St James' Park with a fine reputation following successful spells in Scotland and France. Unfortunately he then set about dismantling said reputation with a series of woefully inept defensive displays that made even Titus Bramble look good in comparison. 18 months - and 47 comical league games - later he was shipped out to Juventus at a loss of almost £5m.

3) Scott Parker (Charlton to Chelsea, £10m, 2004)
Proof, if proof were needed, that flaunting your newfound financial wealth in January is no guarantee of success (hello, Manchester City fans), Chelsea forked out a fortune for this - then - young England star, only to then let him rot in the reserves for almost all of his year and a half stay at the Bridge. Parker made just eight league starts for the Blues before eventually being offloaded to - where else? - Newcastle for just £6.5m.

2) Fernando Morientes (Real Madrid to Liverpool, £6.3m, 2005)
Rafa Benitez has had as many misses as hits in the transfer market since taking over at Anfield, but few have been as disastrous as Fernando Morientes. The Spaniard was touted as one of the best strikers in Europe when he arrived from Real Madrid. Liverpool fans were queuing up to drive him to the airport when he was eventually sold to Valencia in a cut-price deal in July 2006.

1) Nigel Quashie (Portsmouth to Southampton, £2.1m, 2005, and West Brom to West Ham £1.5m, 2007)

Look away now, Birmingham fans: if the man nicknamed Uncle Albert - after the Only Fools And Horse character who went down on every ship he sailed on - is linked with your club this January then you might as well give up on the season now. He only failed to repeat his trick of relegating Southampton four months after signing at West Ham when injury forced Alan Curbishley into playing Mark Noble instead. Well, that and Carlos Tevez, obviously.

Check out the latest transfer gossip ahead of this year's transfer window here , and bookmark the Football Spy blog to keep abreast of all January's movers and shakers.