It has been a frustrating campaign for Wolves in the Premier League this season, with Nuno Espírito Santo’s side having fallen away from the consistent form they had shown in the previous two campaigns.

It had been a promising couple of campaigns back in the top-flight for Wolves which saw them achieve back-to-back 7th place finished and also saw them reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League last term. However, this season, Espírito Santo’s side have instead been stuck down in the bottom half of the table trying to avoid getting drawn into a relegation battle.

Wolves have too much quality to get relegated you would suggest and they should be able to finish the season quite comfortably in mid-table. However, it will be vital that they manage to make some improvements to the squad in key areas this summer so that they can get back to challenging for the European places again.

If they are to do that, Wolves will need to avoid the same mistakes they made in signing the nine players that make it on to this list of signings that flopped at the Molineux Stadium. Click ‘next’ to scroll through the list…

Kicking off this list is defender Roger Johnson, who will be a player that few would argue flopped during his time at Wolves. The defender was signed for a fee in the region of £4 million in the summer of 2011 following a string of impressive performance in the top-flight for Birmingham City.

However, Johnson proved to be a real waste of money for Wanderers with the defender was involved in numerous controversial moments including altercations with team-mates on the field and also with supporters at one stage. Part of the squads that suffered back-to-back relegations to League One and eventually left in 2015 after not being part of their plans for a while.

Another player that makes it into this list having proven to be a mistaken signing during the 2011/12 campaign is Eggert Jonsson, who was Mick McCarthy’s last permanent addition as Wolves manager when he arrived in the winter window of that campaign from Hearts for a fee of around £600,000.

Johnsson would only feature for Wolves on five occasions and he was a bit-part player as they suffered relegation to the Championship during the second half of the 2011/12 campaign. The following year his game time was limited and he joined Charlton Athletic for a brief two-game loan spell. Kenny Jackett took over as manager and in the summer of 2013 allowed him to leave.

Another player who seriously flopped at Wolves, despite big expectations upon his arrival at the club, was forward Robert Taylor. He arrived from Manchester City in 2000 for a fee of around £1.55 million and it was expected that he could fire in enough goals to help the club challenge for promotion.

However, Taylor proved to be a major disappointment and he failed to score in any of his nine league appearances for Wolves during the 2000/01 season. He was also shipped out on loan spells to the likes of QPR, Gillingham and Grimsby Town before he finally left the club permanently in 2002.

Perhaps not as bad as most other players that are on this list, but Matt Hill was still a player who turned out to be something of a flop at Wolves. The defender was signed by Mick McCarthy in September 2008 from Preston North End after he had delivered a number of excellent performances for the Lilywhites.

However, Hill was never able to replicate that type of form for Wolves and he found it difficult to ever establish himself in the starting line-up. He did make 13 appearances in the Championship to help Wanderers earn promotion in 2008/09, but that was as good as it ever got for him. After making just two Premier League appearances he joined QPR on loan and then left on a permanent basis in 2011 joining Barnsley.

Another player to add this list who was a part of the Wolves squad during their major decline that ended up with relegation to League One is defender Georg Margreitter. He arrived in the summer of 2012 as part of a group of failed signings made by manager Stale Solbakken.

Margreitter would go on to manage just three appearances with Wolves in all competitions despite remaining on the club’s books between 2012 and the summer of 2015. He was sent out on loan to FC Copenhagen and then Chesterfield as the club looked to get him off their wage bill and he was eventually released in 2015 ending up at German side FC Nürnberg.

Making it onto this list here is another defender who failed to make the grade at Wolves despite appearing to have been a solid addition to the squad when he arrived. Oleg Luzhny, though, ultimately proved to be a disappointment at the club following his arrival in the summer of 2003.

Luzhny had managed to win the FA Cup and Premier League during his time with Arsenal so hopes were high he could be a good fit for Wolves in their first season back in the top-flight of English football after promotion in 2002/03. However, the defender managed to make just six league appearances and looked far past his best as the club suffered relegation. He left that summer.

Here is another player who struggled to live up to early expectations when he arrived at Wolves in the form of forward Tomasz Frankowski. The Poland international was snapped up by Glen Hoddle in January 2006 from Spanish side Elche, where he had fired in eight goals in just 13 appearances.

However, Frankowski was unable to replicate that sort of form in the Championship for Wolves and failed to really adapt to life in English football. The forward was ill-suited really to style of play that Hoddle was demanding of his players and he failed to score a single goal during his 16 appearances and missed out on the Poland squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup as a result. He left in the summer of 2007.

Another player who proved to be a major disappointment at Wolves is forward Stefan Maierhofer, who failed to live up to the hopes that Mick McCarthy would have had for him when he made the move to sign him in the summer of 2009 from Austrian side Rapid Wien for around £1.8 million.

Maierhofer actually managed to score on his debut for Wolves during a 3-1 loss against Blackburn Rovers, but that was as good as it ever got for him as he looked short of the quality needed to perform in the Premier League. He managed just nine more goalless appearances in all competitions for the club and was sent out on loan to both Bristol City and MSV Duisburg before his permanent departure.

The most recent Wolves transfer flop to be included on this list is forward Paul Gladdon. He has arguably been the worst signing the club have made in recent times with him having failed to impress at all following his move to the club from Dutch side Heracles Almelo in the summer of 2016.

Gladon managed to make just three goalless appearances during the 2016/17 campaign, and he was swiftly loaned out by the club back to Heracles Almelo for the 2017/18 season. Following that he was sent out on loan to Sint-Truiden and Groningen during the 2018/19 campaign. Eventually, in January 2019 the decision was made to terminate his contract at the Molineux Stadium.