*Daily Mail's worst strikers in PL history... No. 20-1 might have some familiar names*


After 25 years the Premier League has seen its fair share of great goalscorers. But it has also witnessed a fair amount of mediocrity in its time.

While its greatest players remain revered, some of its worst are equally heralded.

Here Sportsmail finally reach the end of the road and reveal the 20 worst strikers of the Premier League era...




*20 - Roberto Soldado*
When Tottenham sold Gareth Bale and spent £109m to replace him, hopes were placed in Roberto Soldado to shoulder the burden.

The Spaniard had enjoyed three lethal seasons with Valencia and was a proven talent in front of goal.

But to the tune of £26m, Andre Villas-Boas could be forgiven for expecting more than four of the six goals in his first season to come from the penalty spot.

He was shunted to the sidelines by Mauricio Pochettino in his second season, and soon returned to his homeland, having spectacularly failed to show his true worth.




*19 - Jo*
Manchester City splashed £18m on Brazil striker Jo in July 2008, but within a month he was on a hiding to nothing.

An Abu Dhabi investment group completed a takeover of the club that transformed them overnight into the richest club in world football. Robinho joined, and the rest is history.

Jo scored only once in nine league games, and was farmed out on loan to Everton half-way through the season.

After some initial success, with five goals in 12, he was suspended by the club after returning to Brazil without permission over the Christmas period.




*18 - Yaya Sanogo*
Yaya Sanogo perfectly sums up the recent past of Arsene Wenger's Arsenal reign.

Plucked from the French league, he was a relative unknown, but Wenger believed he was investing in potential. He was severely mistaken.

Sanogo was gangly and wiry but was far from good enough for the Gunners. He was barely any better in his loan spell at Crystal Palace, scoring just the one FA Cup goal.

He was eventually released by Wenger in the summer, and we're unlikely to see him in England ever again.




*17 - Sean Dundee*
Joint managers are never a good idea, and it's their lack of joined-up thinking that led Liverpool to spend £2m on Sean Dundee in 1998.

Seeking cover for Michael Owen, Gerard Houllier and Roy Evans settled on the South African-born German striker.

After claiming he was as fast as the England striker upon his arrival, hopes were high that Liverpool had unearth a gem.

Three late-season substitute appearances later and he was back in Germany with Stuttgart.




*16 - Grzegorz Rasiak*
After a prolific few years back in native Poland, Rasiak then proved himself at Derby in the Championship.

That prompted Martin Jol to take a punt on the Pole on deadline day in August 2005, but within six months he'd been proven to be totally out of his depth.

Southampton signed him on loan, made the deal permanent and once again he flourished in the lower leagues.

Two years later he returned to the Premier League with Bolton as Nicolas Anelka departed for Chelsea. Somehow it didn't work out.




*15 - Mateja Kezman*
Mateja Kezman's Chelsea career is why you can never trust the Eredivisie. The Serb scored 105 goals in four years with PSV, and his arrival for £5.3m in 2004 was a snip.

He took Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's No 9 shirt but then took until December to score his first league goal. Only three more followed.

He was famed as a close-range poacher in Holland but barely got a chance to show it in England.

As he poked home an Eidur Gudjohnsen cross from one-yard out in the League Cup final against Liverpool, peak Kezman arrived.




*14 - Tomas Brolin*
The man who sunk a miserable England at Euro 92 arrived on these shores some three years later.

Howard Wilkinson felt the Swede could work in tandem with Tony Yeboah up front, but when he scored his first goal when a defender's clearance bounced off his shoulder the farce was only just beginning.

He piled on the weight after suffering with injury, and in two spells at Leeds and Crystal Palace he eventually departed in disgrace.

His time in England is full of a rich tapestry of tales, such as the April Fool's Joke that backfired, that time he was fined £90,000 for missing a match to attend his father's 50th birthday and when he became Attilio Lombardo's interpreter at Crystal Palace.




*13 - Bosko Balaban*
Aston Villa spent £5.8m on Bosko Balaban after he top scored in the Croatian league with Dinamo Zagreb.

But whatever eye for goal he showed in his native country disappeared in England.

Balaban made only nine appearances in two-and-a-half years, seven of those as a substitute.

He was eventually released in 2003 and joined Brugge, where he became known as 'Super Bosko' after predictably returning to goalscoring form.




*12 - Vincent Janssen*
Desperate for a striker to take the pressure off Harry Kane, Tottenham spent £17m to bring in Dutch international Janssen.

A prolific season with AZ tempted Spurs to bring him to England, but like Soldado before him the burly forward struggled with the demands.

He scored six times in all competitions, with four arriving from the penalty spot. His lack of speed and physicality saw him dumped at Fenerbahce on loan. It's unlikely we'll see him back here again anytime soon.




*11 - Xisco*
The mystery of Xisco's time at Newcastle is perhaps summed up by the fact he was seventh choice striker behind Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins, Mark Viduka, Peter Løvenkrands, Shola Ameobi and Andy Carroll.

Kevin Keegan left soon after, incensed at the signing of a player behind his back. And yet despite that firepower, Newcastle ended the season relegated.

After scoring on his debut, in a 2-1 defeat by Hull, it all went downhill. It took until January 2013 for his contract to be terminated.




*10 - Erik Meijer*
Despite being one of the most limited strikers in Liverpool history, Erik Meijer is remembered fondly by club supporters.

He spent just one season at Anfield, scored twice in the same game - a Worthington Cup win over Hull - and just ran around a lot.

Liverpool fans voted him 99th in the poll '100 Players Who Shook the Kop', pointing to the never-say-die attitude that outshone any skill he possessed.

A year after leaving he was among Reds fans who congregated in Dortmund ahead of the 5-4 UEFA Cup final win over Alaves.




*9 - Ricky van Wolfswinkel*
Norwich displayed their growing financial muscle by spending £8.5m on Ricky van Wolfswinkel in 2013.

He scored on his Premier League debut but failed to find the back of the net again. By April he had managed only eight shots on target, and ended the season with 25 appearances as Chris Hugton's side slid back to the Championship.

His best moment came late in the season, away at Fuham, with a no-look pass to absolutely no-one.




*8 - Andreas Cornelius*
Premier League new boys Cardiff smashed their transfer record to bring in Andreas Cornelius for £8m in 2013.

At just 20 and with only a year of goalscoring behind him at Copenhagen, the transition to England was steep.

Injury problems hampered him, but in 11 games he failed to score and was shipped off back to Denmark in January 2014.

This summer club owner Vincent Tan launched a fresh investigation into his signing, believing the club paid too much, and instructed lawyers to take a detailed look into the transfer.




*7 - Konstantinos Mitroglou*
Fulham were desperately battling relegation and in January 2014 they agreed a £12m fee with Olympiakos for the Greek striker.

He may have been the record fee holder but he appeared only three times due to a variety of injury, fitness and form issues.

In August he returned to Olympiakos on loan and was promptly back to scoring in the Champions League, with a winner against Atletico Madrid no less.




*6 - Victor Anichebe*
Victor Anichebe spent 12 seasons as a Premier League striker with Everton, West Brom and Sunderland.

Between 2005 and 2017 the Nigerian scored 27 times in 197 appearances, which means he scored roughly once every seven or eight games. In 12 years.

The longevity is to be admired, for Anichebe became the great survivor. Somehow remaining a Premier League striker despite all his shortcomings, he made Bambi on ice look graceful.




*5 - Afonso Alves*
Afonso Alves has become the warning from history, the irrefutable proof that you can not trust any football that happens in Holland.

Middlesbrough smashed their transfer record by spending £12.5m on the Brazilian.

And though his goal return was not necessarily that bad, at 10 goals in 42 games, he has become a figure of fun in the intervening years and a symbol of that Boro side which got relegated in 2009.




*4 - Stephane Guivarc'h*
France proved you didn't need a striker to win the World Cup when Stephane Guivarc'h toiled on his own to no reward throughout their triumph in 1998.

Kenny Dalglish must have seen something in the Auxerre striker, who had enjoyed success in his own country, when he paid £3.5m to bring him to Newcastle.

He made a bright start, scored on his debut against Liverpool, but then Dalglish was sacked soon after.

Ruud Gullit arrived and promptly got rid of him in November.




*3 - Ade Akinbiyi*
When Emile Heskey left for Liverpool for £11m in 2000, Ade Akinbiyi was lined up as a replacement at £5.5m.

After a decent enough return of nine goals in his first season, he hit rock bottom in his second as Leicester hurtled towards Division One.

In a 4-1 defeat by Liverpool in 2001 he missed three sitters and was booed by his own fans. And he didn't just missed them, he skied every single one.

He broke his duck with the winner against Sunderland - after which he ripped off his shirt to shows his bulging biceps - declared it as a 'turning point' before scoring only more in the campaign.




*2 - Ali Dia*
The man, the myth, the legend. The striking flop to end all striking flops.

Allegedly the cousin of World Player of the Year, George Weah, Graeme Souness was hoodwinked into bringing him to Southampton.

He joined in November 1996, made one solitary substitute appearance in place of Matt Le Tissier, before suffering the ignominy of being substituted himself.

He had no discernible skill and was utterly out of his depth. He was released two weeks into his contract.

Mystery, conspiracy theories and anecdotal evidence have followed Dia around ever since his one appearance in the English top-flight. Who is he? How did he get to where he was?

He briefly turned out for Gateshead before disappearing into the unknown.




*1 - Jozy Altidore*
Jozy Altidore played 70 Premier League games for Hull and Sunderland. He scored a grand total of two Premier League goals.

After a fairly non-eventful loan spell with Hull in 2009-10, he returned to England in 2013 after a prolific few years in the Dutch league with AZ.

Sunderland, managed by Paulo Di Canio, spent £6m on the US international and he repaid their faith with one strike in 42 league games.

Altidore looked big and strong, like anything could hit him and stick. He should have been a colossus, but he just wasn't.

Clumsy on the ball and wild in front of goal it was the worst of combinations to spearhead a struggling Sunderland side battling relegation.

He left for Toronto in January 2015, with a strike rate of one goal every 35 games that few Premier League strikers can hope to rival.