Carlos Marchena, Kerala Blasters FC (INR 1.9 crore)

The 36 year old Carlos Marchena who had been out of action since the 2013/14 season was hardly a typical Peter Taylor signing. The former Spanish international and World Cup winner who left his mark in clubs like Valencia and Villareal was a dud at Kerala Blasters. He picked up an injury during pre-season and missed the first few games. He finally made his debut in a 0-1 home loss to Delhi Dynamos and made little impact in the game. After the match, the then KBFC coach Peter Taylor said that Marchena was not fit enough to play 90 minutes. And a couple of weeks after that Marchena left the team for "personal reasons." It was more or less a formerly exceptional player's feeble foray in coming out of retirement. Kerala Blasters finished at the bottom of the table, and the main reason behind it was conceding 27 goals; the highest in ISL 2015. The presence of a fully functional Marchena in the central defence would have undoubtedly boosted them, but it's hard to blame him for their lack of success; especially since Peter Taylor employed a considerably defence-heavy approach and it backfired on them. But yes, compared to David James last year, he sure looks like a letdown.