
30. Gaizka Mendieta
This one is a real blast from the past. Back in 2000, Lazio was one of the strongest and richest sides in Europe. They had their eye on Gaizka Mendieta, one of the brightest talents on the continent at the time. He had played an instrumental role in helping Valencia to consecutive Champion’s League Semifinals.

Lazio was happy to fork out $50 million for him. That might seem standard by today’s crazy transfers, but in the early 2000s that was definitely an outrageous sum of money. Anyway, an expensively-assembled Lazio side failed to gel and he was sent to Barcelona. That didn’t work out either and he ended up at Middlesbrough. Finally, he faded away and everybody forgot about him.