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News
- 13 hours ago
The five worst Serie A transfers of the season
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 7 May 2025 15:18 BST
- 5 min read
Feature
The 2024-25 Serie A season has been a thrilling one, with the Scudetto and top four races the tightest we have seen in years.
As always, Serie A’s top clubs spent the cash in a bid to have successful seasons. While some new signings like Scott McTominay and Nico Paz flourished, other flopped disastrously.
Below, FootballTransfers runs through the five worst Serie A transfers of the season.
READ MORE: The 10 best transfers of the season in Europe
Teun Koopmeiners - €60m (Atalanta to Juventus)
Juventus thought they had managed the signing of the summer in Italy when they brought in Teun Koopmeiners from Atalanta for €60m.
Koopmeiners had established himself as possibly the most complete goal scoring midfielder in Serie A, leading Atalanta to a historic Europa League title and managing 15 goals in his last season there.
Juventus beat Liverpool and other major clubs to Koopmeiners but he has been a shadow of the Atalanta player in Turin.
He has managed just three goals and three assists in Serie A and has often looked slow, sluggish and off the pace for a Juventus team who are struggling to even qualify for the Champions League.
Douglas Luiz - €50m (Aston Villa to Juventus)
Juventus thought they were constructing the best midfield in Serie A by bringing in both Koopmeiners and Douglas Luiz, but the Brazilian has been the biggest flop in the entire league.
He arrived in a €50m deal that saw Enzo Barrenechea and Samuel Iling Jr go the other way.
But Luiz has managed just a pitiful 496 minutes of first team football in Serie A, delivering no goals or assists, whilst also conceding two penalties.
He has also suffered five separate injuries and looked completely unfit. He will be sold this summer by Juventus.
Mehdi Taremi - Free Transfer (Porto to Inter)
Mehdi Taremi did only arrive on a free transfer to Inter when his contract expired at Porto but that shouldn’t protect him from what has been a horror season.
Taremi was supposed to be the first alternative to Lautaro Martinez and Marko Arnautovic but has proven hopelessly inadequate.
He has managed just one Serie A goal all season - and three in all competitions - and become something of a meme.
Taremi enjoyed a prolific spell at Porto with 91 goals in 182 appearances. At Inter he will be remembered as one of their biggest flop signings, although he did have a decent cameo in the Champions League semi final epic against Barcelona.
Emerson Royal - €18m (Tottenham to Milan)
No one who had watched Emerson Royal for three years at Tottenham could understand why AC Milan were so desperate to sign him as their new right back last summer.
Royal had been something on a laughing stock in the Premier League but that didn’t stop Milan splashing out €18m for the Brazilian.
Unsurprisingly, Royal proved to be a big disappointment. He struggled both defensively and especially offensively for a Milan team who have endured one of their worst ever seasons in 2024-25.
By January, Milan had already given up on Royal and they were in negotiations to sell him when he suffered a serious injury that would rule him out for most of the rest of the season. A disaster.
Joao Felix - LOAN (Chelsea to Milan)
Joao Felix has already appeared on the worst Premier League transfers of the season list for his move from Atletico Madrid to Chelsea. And now he appears on the Serie A hall of shame for his loan move to Milan in January.
Felix completed a Deadline Day loan transfer to Milan on February 3, with no option to buy.
The 25-year-old made a bright start at San Siro by scoring a delightful dink on his debut in the Coppa Italia win over Roma.
But since then he has been an unmitigated disaster. He has played a further 17 matches, managing no goals and just one assist.
This has coincided with one of the worst seasons in Milan’s history. He will return to Chelsea in the summer.
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