Transfer flops: Steve Marlet

Arriving at Craven Cottage on the crest of a wave back in 2001, Steve Marlet was somewhat seen as the marquee signing to take Fulham to the next level.

Some years, millions of pounds and a court case later, and the French winger is remembered as one of the biggest Premier League flops.

After starting out at amateur French side Red Star in 1991, he made the step up to the big time with Auxerre after five years at the club.

At this point Marlet's career seeming to be heading in the right direction, with a switch to Lyon materialising in 2000.

The Premier League came knocking a year later, and Les Gones sold up after only a season.

Jean Tignan, then manager, paid £11.5 to secure the signing and expectation began to rise.

In fours year at Craven Cottage however Marley only mustered just over half a century of appearances, and a handful of goals.

There was also a loan spell at Marseille during this time, lasting two seasons.

In 2005 his nightmare in England came to and end and he signed for Wolfsburg, but for Tigana the nightmare was just beginning.

After some expensive, and terrible, signings Fulham chairman Mohammed Al Fayed became suspicious of who was now his former manager.

The millionaire started proceeding against Tignana claiming he was pocketing a share of transfers, hence the large fees shelled out.

Courts however found in favour of the former manager, who after a brief break slipped over to Europe to continue his managerial career.

Marlet however slipped into obscurity, he managed just one season in Germany before joining Lorient back in his native France.

One solitary season later and he was back on his way, taking a few years out of the game.

After a few unsuccessful trails he Marlet found his way back to the amateur leagues, plying his trade for CM Aubervilliers.

Transfer flops: Jean-Alain Boumsong

After a transfer that raised many eyebrows to start off with, it was soon evident that the public were right all along.

In his native France Jean-Alain Boumsong built up quite a reputation, alongside Philippe Mexes at the heart of the Auxerre defence.

However at four years at the club, and with his contract coming to an end Rangers lured Boumsong to Ibrox in the summer of 2004.

Despite his upcoming frailties in England though, he adapted quickly in Scotland and enhanced his reputation.

So much so that Newcastle manager Graeme Souness paid £8m in January 2005, ending his Scottish adventure after just half a season.

However the defensive mistakes began to creep in and it was clear he didn't possess the movement or nous to keep out Premier League strike forces.

After 18 months his unhappy spell came to end, as he moved to Juventus for barely a third of the fee Newcastle paid Rangers.

After another year and half he was on the move again, this time back to France with giants Lyon.
Citing the fact he felt he had more chances of making the French Euro 2008 squad with this transfer.

Boumsong is now playing his trade in Greece, after moving to Panathinaikos during last summers transfer window.

Future stars - Martin Kelly

To kick start the new future stars feature, we start on our shores with a young English defender that is really starting to make a name for himself.

20-year-old Liverpool youngster Martin Kelly is predominantly a centre back, but mostly finds himself deputising on the right side on defence.

A position where he is gaining huge plaudits, with some positive that in a few years he will not only be number one at his club but for the England national side too.

Sundays 2-0 home victory over Chelsea saw Kelly once again deployed in the right-back berth, after Glen Johnson suffered another injury set back, and together with the rest of the back four he performed admirably.

While the clubs number one Johnson often gets criticised for defensive lapses, this isn't a problem for one of the most promising players to come through the Liverpool academy in years.

His defensive abilities are getting better each performance, whilst he is also getting more confident going forward.

Emphasised with a wicked strike on Sunday that was just deflected round the post by the Chelsea defence.

Previous manager Rafael Benitez often seemed unwilling to bleed to many youngsters into the squad, but the fact he brought through Kelly speaks volumes.

His senior debut came in the Champions League during the 2008/09 season, when he came on as a substitute away to PSV Eindhoven.

With his first start coming in the same competition a little less than a year later, when Liverpool took on Lyon at Anfield.

After returning from injury next up was a call to the England under-21 side, where he rewarded Stuart Pearce with a goal on his debut against Uzbekistan.

In a world where football is hugely evolving, and there is a crying need for versatile full-backs who are equally adept at defending as well as attacking Kelly could thrive.

If he continues to get regular game time, the calls that he will be England's number one in a few years time could not be too far off the mark.