Five years ago, Premier League clubs set a spending record for a winter transfer window, but of the $335 million spent during that prolific January, over 80% was accounted for by just four teams buying six players. Scratch the surface and you will see that although a lot of money exchanged hands, many of the deals failed to pay off.

Darren Bent (Sunderland to Aston Villa, $35 million)

Bent had already worked his way through a number of high-priced moves before Aston Villa signed him from Sunderland. Although Villa moved up from 15th at the halfway mark of the season to a mid-table position of ninth at season’s end, the move is regarded as one of the most costly and ineffective in Premier League history.

Bent was eventually released by Aston Villa last summer. The Daily Telegraph calculated that once wages were factored in each Premier League touch of the ball by Bent in a Villa uniform cost $40,000. and each of the 21 league goals came with a price tag of $2.5 million.

Fernando Torres (Liverpool to Chelsea, $74.5 million)

Chelsea paid a British record transfer fee to sign Fernando Torres from Liverpool. During his time at Liverpool, Torres’s strike record was a phenomenal 81 goals in 142 appearances. Although he was to be part of a Chelsea squad that won the FA Cup and Champions League in 2011/12 and the Europa League the following season, Torres’ career hit the skids at Stamford Bridge. He has never again come close to the form he showed on Merseyside.

Torres’ start at Chelsea brought just a single goal in his first 18 appearances, and it weighed heavily on him. The price tag and expectations proved too much, and Torres finished with 45 goals in 172 appearances before moving to Milan on loan in the summer of 2014.

The move became permanent in January of the next year, but within days of the announcement, Torres was again on the move – this time back to his first club and first love Atletico Madrid, again on loan.

With a 32nd birthday coming in March, Torres’s best days have come and gone, and his appearances are mostly limited to that of an Atletico substitute.

David Luiz (Porto to Chelsea, $37 million)

Mention the name to soccer fans and you are sure to receive a multitude of opinions. Some see Luiz as a defensive accident waiting to happen, while others are willing to look beyond his defensive limitations and indiscipline and focus on his speed of foot, passing ability and, on occasion, his incredible shooting from distance.

Famously, Gary Neville once described Luiz’s style as akin to a 10-year-old piloting a PlayStation. The problem for the neutrals — if there are any — is that you can see easily get sucked in when Luiz is “on” only to have you questioning your own sanity when he motors after a loose ball like a squirrel on crystal meth.

Like so many South American players, David Luiz used Portugal, and his case Benfica, as a shop window for his talents. Four years later, Benfica and the third party agency that owned part of Luiz’s rights turned a small investment of around $2 million into a transfer fee of over $37 million.

SEE MORE: January’s latest transfer window deals and news.

During his time at Chelsea, Luiz helped the club win the Champions League and Europa League, as well as the FA Cup. The revolving managerial door at Stamford Bridge saw a number of incumbents opt for using Luiz as a defensive central midfielder, although it rarely stymied his attacking forays.

The surprise was not so much that Luiz was sold to PSG in the summer of 2014 but rather that he lasted a season with Jose Mourinho in charge. Luiz’s playing time was significantly reduced under Mourinho, who has always preferred that his defenders defend. Luiz is very much the antithesis of that approach.

The fact that Chelsea managed to get PSG to pay a record fee for a defender of close to $75 million only goes to prove the old adage of a fool and their money.

Luis Suarez (Ajax to Liverpool, $34 million)

You won’t get many Liverpool fans to admit it, but when Luis Suarez signed from Ajax in late January 2011 there wasn’t that much of a buzz. More attention was being paid to the imminent departure of Fernando Torres. Hours later, the move for Newcastle’s Andy Carroll grabbed the headlines.

The second half of the season was a bedding down time for Suarez, and although his hard work and endeavor impressed fans, his four goals in 13 appearances showed little sign of what was in store.

Suarez’s scoring pace picked up in 2011/12 with 17 goals in 39 appearances, but his ratio of chances to goals scored was still relatively poor – he would do the hard work but he often missed the target. However, over the next two seasons it all came together, and Suarez terrified the opposition with 61 goals in 83 appearances.

There was, of course, discipline problems aplenty, and perhaps it is not surprising that a biting incident involving Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup Finals provided the backdrop for Barcelona making a successful bid of over $110 million.

Liverpool made a healthy profit but have yet to recover from losing Suarez’s scoring and dynamism.

Andy Carroll (Newcastle to Liverpool, $52 million)

Liverpool paid Newcastle $52 million for Andy Carroll – where do you possibly start?

Before to the 2010/11 season ,Carroll had made 22 Premier league appearances and had scored three goals. Seventeen goals in 37 games in the Championship in 2009/10 had attracted some notice, but scoring goals in the lower division has rarely been a reliable predictor of Premier League success.

But Newcastle took off like a runaway train on their return to the Premier League, and Carroll was the driver. Eleven goals in 19 games and the media, without hesitation, anointed the 21-year-old Carroll as the natural successor to the likes of Jackie Milburn, Wyn Davies, Les Ferdinand, Malcolm Macdonald and Alan Shearer. Carroll was also to be the answer to England’s prayers – an intimidating 6-foot-4 striker who would physically dominate any defender foolish enough to come close.

Liverpool took the bait and after having one bid turned down the pot was sweetened and Carroll arrived to replace Torres. Those who questioned the wisdom of spending over $50 million on Carroll were quickly given a lesson in Merseyside Math. Liverpool received nearly $75 million from Chelsea; spent $52 million on Carroll. Cost to Liverpool: nothing.

The move never worked on any level. Carroll picked up injuries, when he played he was short of match fitness and pace, and most importantly, the goals evaporated. Carroll moved on loan to West Ham in Aug. 2012, and the move became permanent nine months later.

Between his time at Liverpool and West Ham, the last five years have brought Carroll just 22 more goals in 110 Premier League appearances, and injuries continue to dog him. On his day, he can still terrorize defenders, but his days have been few and far between.

Edin Džeko (Wolfsburg to Manchester City, $40M)

It is not fair to describe Džeko’s time at Manchester City as a failure, but neither would it be accurate to describe it as a success.

Džeko’s move to Manchester City had all the hallmarks of a rags to riches story. After being written off by some and loaned out by others, a good run of goals while playing for Teplice in the Czech League enticed Wolfsburg to gamble on the lanky and often uncoordinated striker. It was a $5 million gamble that paid off handsomely as Džeko teamed up with Brazilian Grafite to form a deadly scoring partnership. In three and half seasons between the start of the 2009 season and Manchester City ‘s call, Dzeko scored 70 goals in 109 appearances for the German club.

One of Džeko’s 72 goals in his 189 appearance for City was the added time equalizer against QPR on the last day of the 2011/12 season, without which the scene would never have never been set for Sergio Aguero’s dramatic Premier League-winning goal two minutes later.

It was ironic that Džeko’s contribution that day would come after starting on the substitutes bench. Out of 130 Premier League appearances for Manchester City, Džeko only completed a full game 38 times. Rarely was Džeko a first choice, and it was even rarer to find him working in a striking tandem. It was a classic situation of buying a player who had excelled in one system, then trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

By 2014/15 Džeko’s scoring rate at Manchester City slipped to about a goal every five games, and last summer he moved on loan (now made permanent for $17 million) to Roma of Serie A.