AS A-LEAGUE clubs are completing their recruitment crusades for this lengthy off-season, au.fourfourtwo.com decided we'd look back at 10 recruits who didn't turn out as hoped. Here's our Top 10 A-League Flops over the course of the competition's history.
9: Yuning Zhang (Brisbane Roar)
Roar had an issue scoring goals in season one of the A-League, so in season two coach Miron Bleiberg turned to a player known as 'the Chinese David Beckham'. The player was Yuning Zhang, a China international who had been linked with Leicester City in the past and had netted eight times for his country.
Following on from the success of his compatriot Shengqing Qu at Adelaide in 2005-06, there were expectations Zhang would make a big impact, particularly following on from some generous comments from Bleiberg in pre-season. But Zhang struggled, failing to score once for Roar, and ultimately struggling to even make the team's matchday squad on a regular basis. Zhang only managed six appearances for Brisbane before Frank Farina, who had taken over from Bleiberg, cut him loose.
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