By Jordan Henderson

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is the latest to have joined the list of high-profile names to make the jump to Scottish football. While many fans hope things work out for the former Liverpool midfielder, some are taking a more cautious approach given the number of flops we have seen over the years. Oxlade–Chamberlain will hope to reach the heights of players such as Neil Lennon or Pedro Mendes, who won multiple honours after making the jump from English football. He certainly won’t want to have a similar reputation to these four players, who were ultimately considered flops for their respective clubs.

4. Aaron Ramsey

The Welsh superstar joined Rangers in 2022 from French side OGC Nice, with expectations set high among supporters due to the stars career up until that point. They would be entitled to set the bar quite high. His debut came in the form of a cameo appearance against Hearts, with Ramsey doing nothing of note. This was followed by another two-camera appearance in his next three appearances, with a lacklustre performance against League Two opposition Annan Athletic sandwiched in between. In the 20 games Ramsey was available for selection, he only featured in 17 of those, with the majority being cameo appearances. During his stint, he failed to complete a full 90 minuets which is extremely poor for a player of his quality. Ultimately, he will be remembered for his penalty miss that sank the hopes and dreams of Rangers fans, ending their hopes of winning a European trophy for the first time in 50 years.

Aaron Ramsey after his penalty miss against Frankfurt in the Europa League Final via Getty Images

3. James McCarthy

The tale of McCarthy’s career begins in Scotland with Hamilton Academical F.C back in 2006, playing over 100 games before heading down south to join Wigan Athletic for a fee of around £1 million, which was a huge fee back then. Having had a very successful career down south with multiple clubs, McCarthy made the decision to come back up the road and join Celtic in 2021. Fans were divided by this transfer at that time, after the horror show that had taken place the season before. Don’t worry, we will revisit that shortly. Due to his Irish heritage, there were parts of the fan base that were happy to have him at the club and hoped he could prove the doubters wrong. This was certainly not the case; he made just 27 appearances over his three-year spell that concluded with him disappearing off the face of the earth during his final season at the club. Earning a reported £14,000 a week, this cheap attempt from the board to gain brownie points ultimately ended up quite a costly one for Celtic.

James McCarthy against RB Leipzig in the UCL via Getty Images

2. Shane Duffy

The 2020/21 season was the biggest in Scotland for many years. Celtic had matched Rangers’ record of winning nine league titles in a row and were a banker to win the tenth. What could possibly go wrong? Well, everything went wrong that season for Celtic, from various issues off the field to a catastrophic collapse on the field. At the heart of that collapse was Shane Duffy, who signed on a season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion. Things got off to a great start as well, with Duffy scoring twice in his first two domestic games; sadly, for him and Celtic fans, this is where he peaked. Mistake after mistake followed with fans taking to social media to direct some awful abuse at Duffy. The pressure got to the players, and with fans being less than supportive, the performances continued to decline noticeably, Duffy’s. Valentine’s Day marked the end of the love affair between Duffy and Celtic as he made his final appearance in a 2-1 win against St Johnstone, with the Irish defender being forced to sit on the side lines for the remainder of the season.

Shane Duffy against St Mirren via Getty Images

1. Joey Barton

The self-proclaimed tough guy came to Scotland with an arrogance our game hadn’t seen before. The English midfielder came to Scotland after a disappointing spell with Burnley and thought he would run the show. As you may have guessed, this didn’t happen. He made a total of eight, yes, you read that correctly, EIGHT appearances, before he tucked his tail and went back down the road. During his run in Scotland, he was nutmegged three times in one game, ran a mock by his team’s fierce rivals in a game you wouldn’t know he was involved in and faced with multiple hard but fair challenges. Barton’s attempt at being the panto villain was a huge failure for him as he left Scotland with egg on his face and a severely bruised ego. If there was a soundtrack to Barton’s short stint, it would be Good Riddance by Green Day. Good Riddance indeed.

4 High Profile Signings That Flopped in Scottish Football