Bastian Schweinsteiger heads for the Premier League exit - so where does he rank in the top 10 stars who failed to match their big reputations here?

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Bastian Schweinsteiger heads for Major League Soccer with his Premier League expectations unfulfilled.

The former Germany captain arrived at Manchester United in a move that evoked memories of his dominant displays from midfield with Bayern Munich — but departs with that imagery still firmly in the past.

But Schweinsteiger, 32, is far from the first star from afar to lose his sparkle in the Premier League.

Here, Sportsmail looks back at 10 of the biggest names who failed to match up to their reputations after arriving in England.

Bastian Schweinsteiger was reduced to a bit-part role at Manchester United after a poor spell

10. George Weah (Chelsea, Manchester City)

Weah, a Ballon d'Or winner in 1995, arrived in England five years later at the age of 34 but with a level of expectation still attached with his big-name status.

A half-season loan at Chelsea was relatively productive, kicked off with a goal on his debut against Tottenham, and included a role in their FA Cup triumph.

Gianluca Vialli chose not to make his move permanent, though, and Weah moved on to Manchester City. Their highest-paid player on £30,000 a week, he soon fell out with manager Joe Royle and his time in England proved to be short-lived.

On departing, the Liberian said of his treatment by Royle: 'I didn't come for the money. I could have stayed at AC Milan but instead I sacrificed £1.4m from them to come here. I didn't leave that for somebody to tell me to shut up and f*** off.'

George Weah takes the ball past Leeds United defender Jonathan Woodgate while at Chelsea

9. Paulo Futre (West Ham)

When then-West Ham manager Harry Redknapp got a first-hand look at former Porto, Atletico Madrid, Marseille and AC Milan man Futre in training, he listed him as being 'in the top 10 players I have ever seen'.  

He infamously refused to play until being handed the No 10 shirt rather than his assigned No 16 and went on to make just nine appearances for the Hammers.

For a forward of vast pedigree across Europe, the Portuguese ended up counting his time at Upton Park as just another name on a string of late-career journeyman stints.

Paulo Futre was reported to have refused to play until he was handed West Ham's No 10 shirt

8. Mario Jardel (Bolton Wanderers)

Brazilian Jardel arrived at Bolton with a phenomenal goalscoring record in European football from his time at Porto (where he scored 168 times in 161 games), Galatasaray and Sporting Lisbon – including twice claiming to be the continent's top scorer.

Sporting had become tired of his off-the-field problems, allowing Sam Allardyce to snap up the striker for just £1.5million in a move that was met with some surprise.

But while the Bolton boss worked wonders in hosting aging stars including Jay Jay Okocha and Ivan Campo, the same couldn't be said for Jardel.

He scored just three goals – all in the League Cup – in 12 appearances and suffered with weight problems that made him a figure of ridicule. 

Brazilian forward Mario Jardel might have been prolific elsewhere but he was not for Bolton

7. Fernando Morientes (Liverpool)

After years at Real Madrid, Morientes had fallen out of the picture with the Spanish giants and reignited his fearsome reputation with a loan spell at Monaco which included a run to the Champions League final in 2004.

Six months later, Liverpool snapped him up for £6.3m with Rafa Benitez looking for a prolific forward and UEFA's 'Forward of the Year' fitting the bill.

But it didn't work out, clearly. Morientes scored just 12 goals in 18 months at Anfield and the glimpses of quality from one of the finest Spanish forward talents of a generation were fleeting.

Liverpool recouped a little under half of their fee in off-loading him to Valencia. 

Fernando Morientes celebrates a rare goal during his ill-fated time with Liverpool in England

6. Angel di Maria (Manchester United)

You can hardly set a higher level of expectation than a match-winning performance in the Champions League final, but Di Maria's transfer fee of £59.7m may have upped the ante on his move even more.

Manchester United were willing to pay a British record to take a player manager Louis van Gaal listed as: 'a world-class midfielder but more importantly a team player.' And with the hype on a high the club shop even ran out of the letter 'R' to print on shirts.

The Argentine winger struggled, though. He hit two goals and two assists in his first four United games but then fell away from October onwards.

And that was capped with a red card as Arsenal won at Old Trafford in the FA Cup quarter-finals. He moved on to Paris Saint-Germain the following summer.

Angel di Maria lasted a season at Manchester United after his record-breaking £59.7m arrival

5. Robinho (Manchester City)

A real statement signing from Manchester City, Robinho paved the way for the string of stars who have graced the Etihad Stadium since.

City snatched the Real Madrid wide-man from Chelsea's grasp on the most-memorable of transfer deadline days in a £32.5m deal in 2008.

Although he finished as the Premier League's fourth-top goalscorer in his debut season, accusations were leveled that the Brazilian tended to disappear on the tougher occasions.

His second season was particularly disappointing before a move to AC Milan, via a spell at Santos.

Robinho was the first superstar to move to Manchester City ahead of the new era at the club

4. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Manchester United)

The Schweinsteiger everyone remembered from his peak at Bayern Munich never really showed up in Manchester.

He was brought in to bolster Van Gaal's midfield options in 2015 but just 35 appearances later he has been offloaded to MLS side Chicago Fire.

Jose Mourinho decided he was not even worthy of a squad place this season, before restoring the German for a string of low-key appearances.

Schweinsteiger hailed the United supporters, who had 'been a very special part of my time in Manchester'. Unfortunately there was little else special about his spell in the Premier League.

Schweinsteiger leaves United having failed to reach the heights seen at Bayern Munich

3. Juan Sebastian Veron (Manchester United, Chelsea)

United and Chelsea spent £28.1m and £15m respectively on Veron, who rarely showed anything like his Serie A form after arriving in the Premier League in 2001.

Sir Alex Ferguson famously labelled the cultured midfielder's critics 'f***ing idiots', calling Veron a 'f***ing great player'.

But his United form was erratic and at Chelsea he suffered a dip that dragged him out of the team after a bright start – making only 15 appearances.

He left England as a figure of ridicule rather than with memories of the brilliant playmaker who helped Lazio to the Scudetto.

Juan Sebastian Veron never found life easy in England and could not show his form from Italy

2. Radamel Falcao (Manchester United, Chelsea)

Four goals for United and one goal for Chelsea probably say enough about Falcao's time in England on loan from Monaco.

The Colombian striker who struck fear into defenders at Porto and Atletico Madrid was a shadow of his former self in the Premier League with his confidence at an all-time low after a series of serious injuries and a run of poor form.

Back at Monaco this season, Falcao is a reborn attacking force and has shown his quality against Tottenham and Manchester City. Too little, too late for the Premier League, though. 

Radamel Falcao sees a shot go wrong during a game against Chelsea while at United

1. Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea)

'Today is a day when the dream became reality,' said Jose Mourinho of Shevchenko's £30.8m arrival at Chelsea in a British record deal in 2006.

But the 2004 Ballon d'Or winner, arriving from AC Milan, found life in the Premier League to be a bit of a nightmare.

Fans at Stamford Bridge rarely saw anything like the famous pace, power and finishing which earned the Ukranian a string of team and individual honours throughout a glittering career.

His nine Premier League goals cost £3.4m each and he was relegated to the outer fringes of the squad before being offloaded to Dynamo Kiev in 2009 after a loan spell back in Milan.

Andriy Shevchenko celebrates one of his rare crowning Chelsea moments, a goal at Tottenham