How on earth a player such as Mario Jardel gets on this list is beyond me but, as possibly the biggest (quite literally…) white elephant in BWFC’s recent history, Mr Jardel can be proud that he is the first entry in a new category.
Expectation was relatively high when Jardel signed in August 2003 from Sporting Lisbon. Ok – perhaps he’d had a relatively fallow year or two but this was, after all, a previous European Golden Boot winner and a recognised international class striker. Sam Allardyce recognised that he was carrying some (significant) extra weight when he signed but what the hell – he’d soon shed that, we all thought…
Only he didn’t – certainly not to the extent that he needed to anyway. Put simply, Jardel was a truly awful signing and a truly awful player. He didn’t lose weight, he didn’t make a single Premier League start (appearing just 7 times from the bench) and he didn’t score a single Premier League goal. His only goals came in the competitive hot-bed that is the Carling Cup, where he scored 3 goals in 4 appearances. However, these were largely sitters – he didn’t exactly sprint, gazelle-like, half the length of the pitch with the ball at his feet. To top it all off, and this really is bizarre, his movement (for want of a better word) was really quite camp. Think Alan Carr leading the line and you really, honestly, won’t be far off the mark. It came as no surprise when Jardel went on loan to Serie A bottom club Ancona in January 2004. Thankfully, he never returned…
I’m sorry Sam – you made some legendary signings during your time in charge. But with this one, you got it horribly, horribly wrong.