In the world of football, money plays a significant role, but it doesn't guarantee success. Football clubs nowadays are increasingly willing to spend large sums of money in their relentless pursuit of trophies.

Unfortunately, numerous instances have shown that even top-quality players and high-profile signings often fail to live up to their exorbitant transfer fees.

Clubs, particularly Manchester United and Barcelona, have poured substantial amounts of money into these players.

Sports Brief delves into the realm of expensive transfers that ultimately fell short of expectations.

One such example was a transfer fee so exorbitant that La Liga initially refused to accept the payment.

PSG disregarded Financial Fair Play regulations and directly handed the money to Barcelona, activating a release clause that was designed to make such transfers nearly impossible.

This turn of events made Neymar, according to reports from Goal, the most expensive signing in the history of football.

The Brazilian however has failed to dish out a performance worthy of his price tag, as he is always hit with season-ending injuries in the crucial part of the football season.

Eden Hazard – £143m/€160m (Chelsea to Real Madrid, July 2019)

The initial payment of £88.5m alone would have been a disastrous transfer, but Hazard has accidentally activated enough variables in between numerous injuries to make this an all-time great waste of money.

featured 76 times for Real Madrid in four years. Image: Angel Martinez.Source: Getty Images

So disastrous was Hazard’s disastrous stint at Real Madrid that the club opted to end his contract a year early, paying off the Belgian in the process. Hazard featured just 76 times for Real Madrid in four seasons at the Spanish capital.

Philippe Coutinho – £142m/€160m (Liverpool to Barcelona, January 2018)

It’s difficult to pinpoint the most wrong aspect of this deal from a buyer’s perspective, but it’s somewhere between the £106m initial fee, the £26.4m in clauses paid out for Coutinho’s first 90 appearances, the £89m premium Barcelona reluctantly agreed to pay if they signed any further Liverpool players in the next two years, the fact Coutinho won the Champions League with Bayern Munich while on loan from the Nou Camp, scoring twice in the 8-2 quarter-final humiliation of the Catalans, or the knockdown price of £17m they sold the Brazilian to Aston Villa for after four underwhelming years.

Ousmane Dembele – £135m/€147m (Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona, August 2017)

With a bruised ego and the Neymar cash burning a hole in their back pocket, Barcelona had tried all summer to sign Coutinho but after facing resistance from Liverpool, they went cap in hand to Dortmund for their back-up instead.

Surely Lessons were learned with a £369.6m release clause inserted this time – not that the Frenchman has ever come close to warranting such lavish interest.

has struggled with consistency since his move from Dortmund. Image: David Ramos.Source: Getty Images

Dembele’s time at Camp Nou has been plagued with injuries and loads of unhealthy sportsman habits. According to Transfermarkt.com, the French man has scored just 40 goals since his transfer in 2017.

Antoine Griezmann – £107m/€120m (Atletico Madrid to Barcelona, July 2019)

The Frenchman could no longer avoid the Barcelona pull in the summer of 2019 and eventually made the switch to the Camp Nou – a move he would eventually admit was a career mistake according to L'equipe.

Griezmann has somehow managed to remain without a La Liga winner’s medal through it all, timing his moves back and forth between Atletico and Barcelona. The French forward found the back of the net only 24 times in 102 appearances for the Blaugrana.

Joao Felix – £113m/€126m (Benfica to Atletico Madrid, July 2019)

Perhaps the worst match of player and manager there has ever been for a club-record transfer.

How strange that the skilful individualist forward who doesn’t track back never meshed with a totalitarian coach who demands suffering and sacrifice from his subordinates.

Felix is seeking a move to PSG. Image: David S. Bustamante.Source: Getty Images

How strange that Atletico committed such sums on a teenager with 45 career first-team appearances. How strange that they can’t find someone to buy him. It’s a conundrum for Atleti and Joao Felix currently.

The Portuguese is reportedly linked with a move to PSG which is a move the 23-year-old will pray surely materialises.

Jadon Sancho – £73m/€85m (Borussia Dortmund to Man Utd, July 2021)

In his three full seasons with Borussia Dortmund, Sancho’s least productive campaign was his first, when he scored 13 goals and provided 20 assists in 43 games.

Across his two whole seasons with Man Utd, the forward has scored 12 goals and assisted six in 79 games.

According to Talksport, the disappointing forward is on the long list of players set to be shipped out of Carrington, and the club could accept £45m for him two years on. it’s not gone too well for Sancho so far.

Antony – £82m/€95m (Ajax to Man Utd, September 2022)

Erik ten Hag put all his eggs in the Antony basket but a few must have cracked in transit from Amsterdam, with the relatively slow and predominantly one-footed winger scoring eight goals and assisting three in a 44-game debut season.

has struggled to find his feet since making his switch from Ajax. Image: David Horton.Source: Getty Images

It remains to be seen if the forward can re-write prints at Old Trafford. Judging by what has been seen over time, not much improvement is expected from the former Ajax man.

Nicolas Pepe – £72m/€80m (Lille to Arsenal, August 2019)

After offering the closest challenge to Kylian Mbappe for the Ligue 1 Golden Boot, Arsenal spent what remains, for now, a club-record fee on a player who has since returned to France after long being outgrown by the upwardly moving Gunners.

Pepe’s spell at Arsenal remains a failure and he has been deemed surplus to requirement in Mikel Arteta’s new project.

Barcelona eye former Chelsea midfielder

Sports Brief previously reported Barcelona are on the move to sign a new pivot following the departure of Sergio Busquets.

The name of Oriol Romeu, who plays for Catalan rivals Girona, currently tops the list of players slated to replace Busquets.

The midfielder previously played for Premier League clubs Chelsea and Southampton.