How Do You Say "Bust" In Italian?

Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport has come out with a list of Italy's worst transfers in recent memory. Here are some of the flops they've come up with:

• Robbie Keane - Coventry to Inter for $25.1M, 0 goals in 6 appearances (2000-01)
• Gaizka Mendieta - Valencia to Lazio for $54.3M, 0 goals in 20 appearances (2001-04)
• Rivaldo - Barcelona to Milan for $7.8M, 5 goals in 22 appearances (2002-03)
• Nuno Gomes - Benfica to Fiorentina for $22M, 14 goals in 53 appearances (2000-02)
• Ariel Ortega - Valencia to Sampdoria for $16.1M, 8 goals in 27 appearances (1998-99)
• Antonio Cassano - Bari to Roma for $36.2M, 39 goals in 118 appearances (2001-06)

And Mendieta can't even get a look at Middlesbrough. You lead your team to two consecutive Champions League finals, and then your career spirals downward from there. It's been a tough couple years for the 32-year-old Basque midfielder, there's no denying that. Reports are that a move back to Spain before the end of the month is very likely. Anything is better than been considered "not good enough" by such an accomplished and successful coach as Gareth Southgate.

Thinking about past flops, there are a lot of them. Off the top of my head, Ian Rush and his one year at Juventus come to mind. He made the jump to Serie A in the summer of 1987 for $5.7M, a huge sum back then. Of course, he couldn't cut it away from home, famously remarking, "It's like living in a foreign country."

Who's your favorite bust/flop of all time? You can't pick Andriy Shevchenko, at least not yet.

From Rivaldo to Mendieta... (in Italian) [La Gazzetta dello Sport]
They haven't forgotten about him (in Spanish) [Ole]

-ac