9 players we can’t believe have a better PL win percentage than Enzo Fernandez

When Chelsea signed Enzo Fernandez for a Premier League record £107million fee, the midfielder arrived with a reputation as one of the most talented prospects in European football, fresh starring in Argentina’s World Cup triumph in Qatar.

To say that things haven’t gone to plan for Fernandez at Stamford Bridge would be an understatement. Chelsea suffered a disastrous spell of form in the latter half of the 2022-23 campaign to finish 12th in the table, and while there were signs of improvement last term, Fernandez’s time on the treatment table coincided with their best run of results.

At the time of writing, Fernandez has registered 19 defeats, 14 draws and just 14 wins from his 47 Premier League appearances for Chelsea. That’s a win percentage of just 29.7%. Here are nine Premier League players we can’t believe boast a better record.

Hermann Hreidarsson

We’re not suggesting that Hreidarsson was a bad player at all. You don’t notch over 300 Premier League appearances, or win an FA Cup with Portsmouth, without a decent level of ability.

And yet, infamously, the Icelandic defender suffered relegation with each and every club he represented in the English top flight – Crystal Palace (1997–98), Wimbledon (1999–00), Ipswich Town (2001–02), Charlton Athletic (2006–07), and Portsmouth (2009-10).

We’re struggling to wrap our heads around the maths of the Premier League’s record signing, at Chelsea, registering a lower win percentage than a bloke who endured five disastrous campaigns in which he ended up in the bottom three.

A record of 106 Premier League wins in 332 appearances – a rate of 31.9% – is pretty good going when you stack it up against all those relegations.

Titus Bramble

Bramble’s tendency to commit high-profile defensive howlers sees him remembered as one of the Premier League’s punchlines. A hopeless centre-back that was made to look daft with regularity.

That characterisation is a little unfair. Bramble spent the vast majority of his playing career in the top flight with Ipswich Town, Newcastle United, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland – he wouldn’t have stayed at that level for so long were he as hopeless as he’d been portrayed to be.

Like Hreidarsson, he notched up plenty of Premier League appearances – 292 in fact, from which he boasted 98 wins (33.5%), and 72 clean sheets.

According to the official Premier League stats, Bramble conceded 220 goals, was sent off twice, shipped four own goals and committed six errors that directly led to the opposition scoring. We’d have thought those numbers would be a lot more damning, to be fair.

Francis Jeffers

Back in 2001, an £8million fee was enough money for a player to be written off as one of a colossal disaster of a signing. Fast forward two decades and that’d barely get you an unknown prospect from Man City’s academy.

Jeffers’ place in the annals of Premier League infamy was well-earned, having scored just four league goals in 22 matches for Arsenal.

But the striker’s overall record wasn’t actually that bad. Jeffers registered 25 goals and 17 assists in 119 Premier League appearances for Everton, Arsenal, Charlton and Blackburn. He was also on the winning side in 44 (36.9%) of those appearances.

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Andy van der Meyde

“I played for Everton for four years… it was sh*t,” Van der Meyde reminisced of his inauspicious stint at Goodison Park. “There were only two players who could play football.”

The Ajax academy graduate has also spoken candidly about his battle with alcoholism during his time on Merseyside. And yet…

A better Premier League win ratio than Fernandez. Twenty appearances. Ten wins. Fifty per cent.

Roberto Soldado

“In the end, what let me down was my head. Perhaps my transfer fee was big too and maybe the expectations that I put on myself put me over the edge,” Soldado explained of his time at Tottenham in an interview with The Mail.

He’s the first to admit that his club-record £26million transfer was not a success. Just seven goals in 52 Premier League appearances is a testament to that.

And yet even during an awkward time for the club, he was the winning side for half (26 – 50%) of his Premier League appearances.

What next? Tim Sherwood boasting the best Premier League win percentage of any Spurs manager? Ahem.

Shkodran Mustafi

The poster boy for Arsenal’s late Wenger era struggles, you can just picture Mustafi’s pained expressions during an era in which the Gunners went from Champions League regulars to Europa League also-rans.

The German World Cup winner spent time at Everton as a youngster, but all 102 of his Premier League appearances came for Arsenal. Fifty-four (52%) of said matches ended with three points.

Mustafi has recently announced his retirement at the age of 32, having suffered relegations with both Schalke and Levante since departing The Emirates three years ago.

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Eric Djemba-Djemba

Even in Manchester United’s mid-noughties fallow period under Sir Alex Ferguson, they never plumbed anything like the depths Chelsea have since Todd Boehly took over.

Back-to-back third places finishes was as bad as it ever got under Ferguson in the Premier League – talk about levels.

Djemba-Djemba is justifiably considered one of Ferguson’s worst-ever signings. He looked out of his depth at Old Trafford and struggled to force his way into the starting XI.

And yet he still boasts a better Premier League record than Fernandez, having won in 14 of his 31 (45%) appearances for United and Aston Villa.

Jean-Alain Boumsong

We’ve already covered some of the most widely derided signings at Everton, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United. Now we move on to Newcastle.

Mention the French defender’s baffling £8million move from Rangers back in 2005 in a Tyneside pub and you’ll no doubt be met with winces.

Yet just like his old defensive partner Bramble, he – or at least, his record – wasn’t as bad as you’ll be led to believe.

The Magpies finished a respectable seventh during Boumsong’s only full season at St. James’ and when the time came to leave he signed for Italian giants Juventus… who were in Serie B at the time.

At the time of writing, Boumsong has made as many Premier League appearances as Fernandez – 47. He’s notched two more wins (34%) than the Chelsea man.

Winston Bogarde

“I may be one of the worst buys in the history of the Premiership, but I don’t care” Bogarde once remarked. Can’t fault the honesty.

With sample size in mind, we’ve attempted to be fair here and gone with players who made a reasonable number of appearances in the Premier League.

We’re making an exception for Bogarde, who won in four of his nine appearances for Chelsea (44.4%) before deciding to stay put and collect the wages he was legally entitled to without kicking a ball for the Blues.

Given the size of their squad and some of the lengthy contracts they’ve handed out, we would not be at all surprised if Chelsea find themselves with a few more Bogardes knocking about Cobham in the coming years.

Perhaps Boehly should’ve rehired the Dutchman as a recruitment consultant – you’d have thought he, if anyone, could have told them what not to do.