Coronavirus has not only jeopardize the football calendar but it also definitely going to have an impact on the transfer market as clubs may face a huge task or an unknown scenario in signing good players when the transfer window finally opens.
Unfortunately, as it stands all the football leagues can’t say when actions will return back in various countries respectively, but then as the summer transfer window approaches clubs across Europe will also be preparing to get their hands on one or two decent players.
As for the fans, it is a thing of joy for their club to sign players, even though it’s going to be on the detriment of other fans, however, most transfers result in an amicable agreement, while some negotiations turn stale, in this period some clubs resort to unscrupulous tactics in other to get the player they want, and sometimes a player believes the club his heading to maybe better path than his current club.
So, today Cheapgoals in this piece will look at the most controversial transfer in football over the years.
- 1. Luis Figo – Barcelona/Real Madrid (2000)
- 2. Sol Campbell – Tottenham/Arsenal (2001)
- 3. Roberto Baggio – Fiorentina/Juventus (1990)
- 4. Ashley Cole – Arsenal/Chelsea (2006)
- 5. Denis Law – Manchester City/Manchester United (1973)
- 6. Tevez, Mascherano – West Ham/ Corinthians (2006)
- 7. Johan Cruyff – Ajax/Feyenoord (1983)
- 8. DI Stephano – Millonarios – Real Madrid
- 9. Robin Van Persie – Arsenal/Manchester United (2012)
- 10. Giuseppe Meazza – Inter Milan/AC Milan (1940)
- 11. Mo Johnson – Celtic/Nantes/Rangers (1989)
1. Luis Figo – Barcelona/Real Madrid (2000)
Figo is a figure of admiration and a joy to watch amongst the Catalans faithful, he had everything working for him producing scintillating performances that could turn him into one of the world greatest midfielder of all time, being bestowed the captain of the team and helping the Spanish giants to win two successful La Liga titles in 1998 and 1999 couldn’t stop him from leaving.
Despite all of the massive success he achieved with the Catalan giant, Figo did agree to join arch-rivals Real Madrid following his impressive performance with Barcelona for a fee around £37 million which made him the most expensive player signed by a club then.
The Portuguese former captain move angered the Catalan fans, he was immediately targeted by the fans as a betrayal and he was hated by many despite being their captain who had achieved a lot of success for them.
Figo’s move to Madrid reached the peak of the controversy in the Clasico when a pig head was thrown at him whilst attempting to take a corner which made the match to be stopped for six minutes due to the abusive words from the heartbroken Barcelona fans which stated “We hate you so much because we loved you so much”
2. Sol Campbell – Tottenham/Arsenal (2001)
Campbell’s name will definitely go down in the history of English football as one of the finest defenders ever to play the round leather game, during his spell with Tottenham he was one of the greatest players to have ever worn a Tottenham jersey, however, his success at White Hart Lane was quite limited.
In the summer of 2001, his contract with Hotspur expired which brought about several speculation and months of intense contract negotiations between the team and Campbell, despite repeatedly promising the White Hart Lane fans that he would stay put at the club, the former Three Lions captain failed to sign a new contract with Tottenham.
Campbell move to Arsenal got the Spurs faithful furious when Arsene Wenger offered an amazing contract offer to Campbell, and despite repeatedly assuring the fans that he would stay back in the club, yet he eventually signed for Arsenal which didn’t go well in the mind of all Tottenham fans for joining their arch-rival.
3. Roberto Baggio – Fiorentina/Juventus (1990)
Baggio’s time in the city of Florence comes with a lot of adoration when he was with Fiorentina, but that wasn’t enough to prevent the Italian from joining Juventus in 1990, and the move triggered riots in the city which resulted into a lot of injuries to over 50 fans.
Baggio’s brilliant and impressive performance for Fiorentina when the team was pushing for the Italian trophy in the late 1980s is definitely one thing that gives the fans a lot of joy, joining Juventus was more like a stab from behind with a knife in hand.
In his first match for Juventus against Fiorentina, Baggio refused to take a penalty and he substituted, despite stating that he was compelled to accept the transfer by Pontello, who had already agreed to a deal with Gianni Agnelli over the sale of ‘Il Divin Codino’ for a world-record fee at the time.
When he was substituted a Fiorentina scarf was thrown at him which he picked and kissed it, claiming that “Deep in his heart, he is always purple, which is the color of Fiorentina”.
4. Ashley Cole – Arsenal/Chelsea (2006)
The former Three Lions defender got the Arsenal fans furious when he was caught in the middle of a public feud between Arsenal and Chelsea in the summer of 2005 following his attempt to force a move to Stamford Bridge when he met with Jose Mourinho.
Cole was subsequently fined by the Premier League board for arranging a meeting with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and Chief Executive of the club Peter Kenyon at a hotel to negotiate a transfer that could see him move to the blue part of London, Cole’s agent Barnett was also present at the meeting which resulted into him losing his license for 18 months.
However, a year later Cole’s future found itself under more acrimonious scrutiny, during his negotiation persuasion from the Gunners board, he found out that Arsenal was not willing to offer him a mega pay, compared to what Chelsea will offer him, he went on to make a comment that he has been used as a scapegoat throughout the entire affair, but then Cole eventually left for Chelsea in 2005 for £5 million-plus William Gallas moving over to Arsenal.
5. Denis Law – Manchester City/Manchester United (1973)
Though this bizarre transfer move actually happened as far back as 1962, then it was one the biggest move that sprung up a lot of controversies in English football, Denis was actually a player of City and without doubt, the burning enmity between the two city club is definitely what water can’t quench, but that alone couldn’t stop him from agreeing with a move to United, although he didn’t join United directly he spent a year with Torino before moving.
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Law spent his glory days scoring for United, whilst at United, he scored over 237 goals in 404 games winning two league titles and FA Cup, Law did go on to became the leading strikers in European football and was voted European player of the year in 1964.
His career was plagued with injuries in 1970, and despite netting 12 goals in the following season he was considered surplus to requirement at the Theatre of Dreams, he eventually agreed to join City on a free transfer.
6. Tevez, Mascherano – West Ham/ Corinthians (2006)
When two of the most exciting young prospects announced they would be moving from Corinthians to the Premier League, not many expected them to end up at West Ham. One of the most ground-breaking football transfers of all time, this deal had controversy written all over it.
The Argentine duo’s rights were owned by third parties MSI and Global Soccer Agencies, their move to Upton Park involved dodgy undisclosed fees which sparked an investigation by the Premier League into the nature of the signing. It was later revealed that West Ham had purchased the players from MSI and owned the registration rights to the players.
The ownership issue was not resolved by the end of the 2006/07 season when West Ham and Tevez’s future club Manchester United sought FIFA’s assistance. Tevez was loaned out to United after MSI released him from his contract.
7. Johan Cruyff – Ajax/Feyenoord (1983)
Cruyff felt betrayed by his childhood club whom he served painstakingly, he was angered by the refusal of Ajax to offered him a new contract, and as such he opted to join arch-rivals Feyenoord in other to taunt the club and his actions really got the fans furious for joining Feyenoord.
The Dutch legend was known for his total football philosophy, and he was one of the finest football players to ever play during his spell with Ajax even after his illustrious career winning the Eredivisie with Ajax.
Cruyff exploits in football will surely not be erased from the history of football, as a player and as a manager, but then his move down to the arch-rival side is something he could have avoided perhaps if Ajax had offered him a new contract.
8. DI Stephano – Millonarios – Real Madrid
One of Real Madrid’s greatest ever player, Alfredo Di Stefano could have signed for FC Barcelona back in the 1950s. Los Blancos agreed a separate deal for Di Stefano, resulting in the Spanish Football Federation ruling he should play for both clubs on alternating seasons. The resignation of the Catalan club’s president later signaled the end of Barcelona’s contract with Millonarios, leaving the footballing icon to join Madrid permanently.
Di Stefano left for Colombian club, Millonarios in 1949 from River Plate. The Argentine club had claimed that they still owned the player which meant that Barcelona could strike a deal with them.
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When this was happening in Argentina, Real Madrid agreed on a deal to sign the striker from the Colombian club. Many conspiracy theories emerged after Real announced the signing of Di Stefano.
Spain’s dictator, Francisco Franco forced Barcelona to sell all of their rights to Madrid, Franco’s capital, was one of the theories that were doing the rounds at the time. This political rivalry known as the El Clasico took a whole new meaning after the conflict over the signing of Alfredo Di Stefano.
9. Robin Van Persie – Arsenal/Manchester United (2012)
What made this move really heartbreaking for the Gunners fans in comparison to some of the previous transfers, is how valuable Van Persie was to the club but looking at their seven years trophyless campaign it’s definitely a pointer to the reason why the Dutch forward had to jump the gun to move down to United for £24 million in 2012.
After many seasons of inconsistency due to a succession of injuries, Van Persie eventually came of age and he went on to scored over 37 goals in all competitions for the Gunners, despite that Arsenal couldn’t tie him down in other for him replicate such form during that season.
No doubt Van Persie’s move to United didn’t really go down well with the Gunners, but then his statement that the lack of ambition from the Arsenal board made him not to sign a new contract and that led to his move to United.
10. Giuseppe Meazza – Inter Milan/AC Milan (1940)
Meazza was a legend at Inter Milan, he was considered by many to be the greatest Italian footballer of all time, and he is regarded as the only man to have come close to bridging the tension between Milan’s two greatest football clubs in Italy.
During his spell at Inter, Meazza scored 241 goals in 348 games for the Nerazzurri before missing much of the 1938/39 season due to injury, on his return he opted to join the Red side of Milan as opposed to staying with Inter Milan.
His Milan career was short-lived, he only made just 37 appearances for Milan before he left for Juventus. However, his move to Milan will always be remembered as one of the transfer moves that caused controversies despite the love the Nerazzurri fans showered on him.
11. Mo Johnson – Celtic/Nantes/Rangers (1989)
Celtic and Rangers were known to be bitter rivals and in the world of football, their rivalry is one of the fierce and biggest rivalries in football, the kind of hostilities between the opposing sets of fans of both clubs is something that often comes with violence and racism anytime both team faces.
In 1989 when Johnson joined Rangers, he felt the explosive force of the rivalry and the wrath of the fans when he signed for Rangers from Nantes, prior to his career at Nantes he was fan’s favorite at Celtic Park coupled with the fact that he was a driving force behind their title-winning team in 1986, the season where he scored 52 goals in 140 matches before he left for Nantes.
After two seasons with Nantes, Johnson made his desire known to the public that his move to the Scottish giant is imminent, as such the Glasgow city was shocked when Johnson opted for an unprecedented move to fierce rival and triggered a flurry of violence between the two clubs.
He was called ‘Judas’ and a pie was thrown at his face after he scored against in the Old Firm derby even the Rangers didn’t want a Catholic playing for their team, which led to Ibrox protest even kit men joined and refused to arrange his kit.
