10. Cesc Fabregas
Arsenal – Barcelona (2010)
Read Goal.com’s impressive Cesc Fabregas Arsenal to Barcelona timeline and it stretches to some mighty 4,608 words. That’s prior to you even read any from the 100 + stories! Arsenal’s captain returning back to Barca resulted in several forests being felled to print all of the stories. Despite being pictured in a Barcelona shirt and producing it abundantly clear he desired to go back to Spain, the Gunners have managed to hold onto their man…for now. Prepare yourself for an additional installment next year. Yawn.
9. Ricardo Quaresma
Porto – Inter (2008)
Having fallen out with Frank Rijkaard, Quaresma rebuilt his reputation at Porto when Jose Mourinho came calling in 2008. Inter’s then new manager was shot down by his president Massimo Moratti, who stated: “We don’t require Quaresma”. It didn’t help that Porto were looking for silly money for the winger, believed to become around €40m. Mourinho played hard ball with his old club and urged Moratti to obtain out his cheque book before an offer was finally done for a fee of €18.6m, with young Inter participant Pele moving in the opposite direction.
Inter fans had been left wondering what all the fuss was about as Quaresma failed to make an impression in the San Siro. Went on loan to Chelsea, where he flopped, and has since moved to Besiktas.
8. David Villa
Valencia – Various (2008, 2009)
Along with the aged chestnut of retired genius Zinedine Zidane moving to the MLS despite hanging up his boots in 2006, the prospect of Villa leaving the Mestalla has been mooted heavily for at least the past two years.
Linked with Chelsea as lengthy as 3 years ago, Villa was rumoured to be on the method to Manchester United and latterly Manchester City for £40m because then. Chelsea were best placed and offered Villa a salary of £10m a year, but the participant was always keen to remain in Spain.
“I don’t close the door to either Real Madrid or Barcelona.
“I am 27 many years aged and I don’t know what will occur in my long term. I’ve a contract with Valencia until I’m 32, but nobody knows what the long term holds,” he stated in December 2009.
Villa joined Barcelona for €40m prior to Spain’s victory in the World Cup.
7. Franck Ribery
Bayern Munich – Real Madrid (2009)
Seemingly intent on purchasing every single attacking player in the globe, Real Madrid set their sights on Bayern Munich playmaker Franck Ribery final summer. Endorsed by Zinedine Zidane, the Frenchman was tipped to follow in the footsteps of Kaka and Ronaldo by moving towards the Bernabeu.
Desperate to leave the Allianz, Ribery told L’Equipe: “I have made up my mind, I wish to leave. It’ll be Real or nothing.” It was claimed a offer was carried out for Ribery to complete one more period – a la Ronaldo – and join in 2010. He won’t be heading anywhere till a minimum of 2015, getting signed a new contract with his present club last May.
6. Alfredo di Stefano
Barcelona – Real Madrid (1953)
Madrid legend Di Stefano initially moved to Spain to play for Barcelona after his Colombian club Millionarios accepted an offer from the Catalans. The Argentinian played a few friendly games for Barca but points got spicy when Real Madrid desired the participant as well and provided money to Millionarios to get him. A lengthy saga ensued, forcing the Spanish football authorities to get included prior to the player created the move from Barcelona to Real Madrid in time for the new period. Read more about this controversial exchange in the top 10 transfers that in no way had been.
5. Dani Alves
Sevilla – Chelsea (2007)
Chelsea fans awoke to news in August 2007 that the Blues had signed Alves for €30m. Turned out it didn’t occur, as Sevilla turned down two bids for their star full-back who made his feelings perfectly clear.
“I wish to continue growing like a player and if that has to be somewhere else, then it will be somewhere else,” Alves said in the time.
He was dismayed at becoming told he would need to stay at Sevilla and fell out with the club’s president as his form suffered. Coach Juande Ramos was happy using the news but then jumped ship himself to London to coach Tottenham a couple of months into the period. Alves moved to Barcelona in 2008 but has recently been linked with a transfer to Manchester City.
4. Patrick Vieira
Arsenal – Real Madrid (2002,2003,2004)
A lot like picking up your tennis racket for two weeks throughout Wimbledon, the Vieira to Real Madrid story became an annual summer event. After obtaining shot of Vieira’s French team-mate Claude Makelele to Chelsea, the Spanish outfit had been desperate for some steel to add to their superstar line-up. In 2004 the offer finally looked like becoming carried out, with Arsenal accepting a £30m charge for their captain. Vieira pulled out at the last minute after it emerged he wouldn’t be on a Galactico level salary. Eventually left a year later for Juventus.
3. Rafael van der Vaart
Hamburg – Valencia (2007)
So confident was the Dutchman of joining Valencia that he was pictured holding the club shirt back again in 2007. Hamburg weren’t willing to let him go for the €14m provided and the participant went out of his way to make the move occur. Van der Vaart pulled out of a European game for the German club claiming he had hurt himself – lifting his one-year-old son – so he wouldn’t be cup-tied. The sage was dubbed ‘Van der Farce’ by the German press and also the final straw was when the player invited journalists to his home to talk about his dream move so his Spanish grandparents could see him play in La Liga.
Hamburg remained firm and the player was forced to stick it out for another year before joining Real Madrid. Apparently Van der Vaart’s Hamburg team-mates gave him a Christmas present of the Valencia shirt with the name van der Verrat on it. Verrat becoming the German word for betrayal.
2. John Obi Mikel
Lyn Oslo/Manchester United – Chelsea (2006)
A controversial exchange involving agents, strange TV interviews, death threats and also the eventual payment of millions to some club which Mikel in no way kicked a ball for.
The participant had been identified by Manchester United in 2003 following starring in the FIFA U-17 World Youth Championships. He joined Norwegian side Lyn Oslo to enable him to obtain a work permit and was announced like a Manchester United participant shortly after his 18th birthday. Mikel wore a United shirt in the press conference, saying he was delighted to be joining the club.
Chelsea then intervened, claiming they had a deal using the player. In the meantime Mikel was the target of death threats in his native Nigeria and disappeared when he was meant to play a match for Lyn. He showed up in London and gave an interview saying he had been pressured into signing for United and wanted to join Chelsea instead.
FIFA had been forced to obtain included and the exchange looked to become going down the legal route. Chelsea avoided this by paying Manchester United £12m and Lyn £4m to settle the saga. Former Lyn director Morgan Andersen was convicted of fraud for his part in the long running exchange.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
Manchester United – Real Madrid (2008,2009)
This one was usually heading to occur once Ronaldo put himself in the Madrid shop window following a stunning 2007-08 seasons when he scored 42 goals. Desperate to join Los Blancos, the participant, who was earning £120,000 a week with Manchester United, compared himself to some modern day slave when the Red Devils dug their heels in and insisted he give them one more season. The saga dominated the summer of 2008 until Ronaldo agreed to stay using the Red Devils for another campaign. The media went into collective mourning when Ronaldo joined Madrid early the following summer time, ensuring there was no repeat from the previous year’s saga.