Transfer window? Some managers might feel like throwing themselves out of it as we assess the big hits and embarrassing misses in the Premier League transfer charts so far this season.

"Top of the Flops" has to be Radamel Falcao, last seen with a pained expression as he suffered the indignity of being "hooked" by Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal in the FA Cup tie at Preston. Just to rub it in, United turned a 0-1 deficit into a 3-1 win without him.

Falcao ripped up the record books with his goals at Porto and Atletico Madrid, yet the Colombian has managed only four for United -- and none against any team in the top eight.

Perhaps his cruciate injury last season is to blame for the career slump. Perhaps not. Either way it seems unlikely United will want to spend 43 million pounds to make his move to Old Trafford permanent.

United must be doing something right because they are on course for the top-four finish they desperately need and they remain in the FA Cup, but few of their summer signings have ripped up many trees yet.

At a British-record 59.7 million pounds, Angel Di Maria has been shunted from position to position amid Van Gaal's endless tactical variations. Consequently, he has only fitfully been able to display his undoubted excellence.

Ander Herrera (29 million pounds) rarely makes the starting lineup, Luke Shaw (30 million pounds) was hardly helped by the manager publicly criticising his fitness levels early in the season, while neither Marcos Rojo (16 million pounds) nor Daley Blind (14 million pounds) has quite convinced the fans yet.

All of those players have obvious quality, and injuries have not helped, but Van Gaal has to answer the accusation that he has failed to get a decent tune out of them. So far, anyway.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Manchester City's 32 million-pound outlay on the inexperienced Eliaquim Mangala has looked about double what he is worth on all available evidence. They must hope the 28 million pounds spent on Wilfried Bony leads to regular plays for his old Swansea scoring anthem "Daddy Cool" over the Etihad loudspeakers.

Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, always said his under-fire summer signings would come good -- and to be fair, a few of them have.

Lazar Markovic (20 million pounds), Alberto Moreno (12 million pounds) and especially Emre Can (10 million pounds) are starting to look the part in a fast-improving Liverpool side, which has put its laboured pre-Christmas form firmly in the past. As yet, the same cannot be said of 20 million-pound bench-warmer Dejan Lovren or 25 million-pound Adam Lallana who, even allowing for injuries, has shown only glimpses of his best form and finds himself behind Philippe Coutinho in the pecking order.

Spurs spent over 100 million pounds of the "Gareth Bale money" on a whole host of new players last year, but interestingly it is one of their own, Harry Kane, who has been the young sensation of the season, with another academy product Ryan Mason proving a revelation in midfield.

Hopefully, financial fair play regulations will encourage more Premier League clubs to give home-grown players their chance, though last week's mammoth 5 billion-pound TV deal might only encourage them to reach for the chequebook even more.

Southampton have got the balance right, bringing through talented kids from their academy while dealing shrewdly in the market and flying high despite the sale of key men like Lallana, Lovren, Shaw and Rickie Lambert.

Top of the current transfer charts has to be Chelsea. In the past three windows, manager Jose Mourinho has made a 9 million-pound profit while getting rid of players he does not want (Juan Mata, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle, Romelu Lukaku), while adding the goals of Diego Costa, the creativity of Cesc Fabregas, the reliability of Nemanja Matic and the menace of Juan Cuadrado.

Not far behind -- surprisingly, given his Scrooge-like reputation -- is Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. The signing of the brilliant 18-goal Alexis Sanchez was inspired even at 35 million pounds, while Danny Welbeck and Calum Chambers (both 16 million pounds), Mathieu Debuchy (12 million pounds) and keeper David Ospina (2.8 million pounds) all look decent business.

Similarly, West Ham's Sam Allardyce deserves an honourable mention, getting Diafra Sakho (10 goals in 18 games) for 3 million pounds and the cultured left-back Aaron Cresswell for a similar sum, while landing a real coup with the loan of Alex Song from Barcelona. Enner Valencia (12 million pounds) might be lethal given a little longer to settle in.

Any manager knows that sometimes you have to get lucky, too.

Look at Tony Pulis at West Bromwich Albion. On deadline night he was about to get rid of Brown Ideye, who had been a 10 million-pound flop since his signing last summer. But at the last moment West Ham would not sell Carlton Cole to Albion, so Ideye stayed. Since then the Nigerian has not stopped scoring and Pulis is thanking his lucky stars.

It is a strange business. Just ask Sir Alex Ferguson, who made wonderful signings like Eric Cantona, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Patrice Evra and Robin van Persie.

Just don't mention David Bellion, Bebe, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Massimo Taibi, or even Shinji Kagawa, Juan Sebastian Veron and Wilfried Zaha.

Some you win ...

Ian Darke, who called games for the network during the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, is ESPN's lead soccer voice in the U.S. Reach him on Twitter @IanDarke.