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55 shocking football transfers that shook the world: 40-31

Words: Ben Clark, Alex Hess, Greg Lea, Adam Digby, Seb Stafford-Bloor, Jon Spurling, Joe Brewin

40. David Luiz (PSG to Chelsea, 2016)

Fee: £34m
Having chased Alessio Romagnoli and Kalidou Koulibaly for large amounts of the summer, Blues fans were somewhat baffled by Antonio Conte's decision to bring David Luiz back to west London.

Here was a player routinely mocked for his bizarre defending style, with many onlookers believing that Chelsea always looked better defensively the further away that the Brazilian was from his own box. A speedy £34 million deal was rubber-stamped on deadline day, though, in a move that screamed ‘fall-back option’.

But so far, Luiz’s signing has been a revelation. Playing at the heart of Conte’s brilliant back three, the 29-year-old is being showered with praise having played a huge role in Chelsea's stroll to the Premier League summit. Luiz claimed that he came back to Stamford Bridge with one target – winning the title – and he's well on his way to achieving it. BC

39. Bebe (Vitoria to Man United, 2010)

 

Fee: £7.4m
The player who Alex Ferguson famously signed having never seen him play. Bebe’s employment at Old Trafford was sealed by a startling fee of over £7m, just 12 months after he was being touted around Europe for £125,000. It ended, four years and two Premier League appearances later, as one of the most ignominious and inexplicable transfers of the modern era.

United bought Bebe from Vitória at a time when he had only played six pre-season friendlies for the Portuguese club, having just signed for them. Bebe had also tied himself to a new agent by the name of Jorge Mendes days before United made their move. Before that, the striker’s only competitive football had been a single season in the Portuguese third division, during which he scored four goals in 26 games.

Ferguson claimed that the striker had come recommended by his assistant Carlos Queiroz (also represented by Mendes who, according to Vitoria’s directors, landed 30% of the transfer fee as part of the deal). The transfer was subject to an investigation by Portuguese anti-corruption police in 2012, though no party was ever charged with wrongdoing. AH

38. Mario Gotze (Borussia Dortmund to Bayern Munich, 2013)

 

Fee: £32m
Robert Lewandowski and Mats Hummels have both swapped Borussia Dortmund for Bayern Munich in recent years, but Gotze’s move from the former to the latter was easily the most seismic.

Despite being born in Bavaria, the future World Cup winner joined BVB at the age of eight and went on to play a starring role in their Bundesliga triumphs in 2011 and 2012.

In April 2013, though, it was confirmed that Gotze was Bayern-bound after die Roten triggered his release clause. Dortmund fans didn’t take the news particularly well, while the attacking midfielder – now back at Signal Iduna Park – struggled to nail down a regular first-team spot under Pep Guardiola. GL

37. Gigi Buffon (Parma to Juventus, 2001)

 

Fee: £32m
While many of these deals saw one side steal a great player from one of their rivals, Gigi Buffon’s move from Parma to Juventus is one that truly benefited both teams. The Stadio Tardini outfit were struggling financially, but collected a cool €53 million fee that remains a world record for a goalkeeper even today.

Juventus didn't do badly out of the deal, however, signing a 23-year-old who became arguably the finest player ever to stand between the posts.

Nine Serie A triumphs (two of which were revoked) and a Serie B title in 15 seasons has proved a fine return, while he also played a major role in helping the Bianconeri reach two Champions League finals. AD

36. Julien Faubert (West Ham to Real Madrid, 2009)

 

Fee: Loan
The Soccer Saturday panel were running through the half-time scores when the news broke. “Julien Faubert has joined Real Madrid,” Jeff Stelling declared, stunning his colleagues into silence. “Who’s his agent?” a flabbergasted Paul Merson enquired. “He should be knighted by the queen.”

It’s hard to disagree. Faubert, who’d hardly set the world alight after joining West Ham 18 months previously, played just 52 league minutes during his loan spell at the Bernabeu.

His most memorable contribution came when he appeared to fall asleep on the bench during a game against Villarreal, although he later informed FFT that he had merely “closed [my] eyes because I was bored”. Fair enough. GL

35. Ruud Gullit (Sampdoria to Chelsea, 1995)

 

Fee: Free
A free transfer in the loosest sense: Gullit's move from Sampdoria was indicative of both the Premier League's swelling pockets and its intention to be noticed by the rest of the world. By 1995, the Serie A consensus appeared to be that chronic knee problems had dulled the former World Footballer of the Year, and that he was subsequently no longer worth the financial bother.

Glenn Hoddle disagreed, though, giving Gullit a new home on the King's Road and a leg-saving role at sweeper.

He spent just three years in London – his playing career curtailed by time, his start to managerial life interrupted by Ken Bates – but Gullit's Chelsea legacy is framed by what he enabled: he represents the beginning of the club's ascension towards its contemporary personality. SSB

34. Ashley Cole (Arsenal to Chelsea, 2006)

 

Fee: £5m (part exchange)
For the sake of appeasing any lawyers who may be reading, let's just say that Chelsea 'admired' Ashley Cole while he was still an Arsenal player. Photographs were taken, back pages throbbed with scandal, and in 2005 Cole was fined by the Premier League for engaging in illegal contact with representatives from Stamford Bridge.

By August 2006, one of the most protracted sagas in transfer history was concluded: Cole joined Chelsea for £5m, with William Gallas moving in the opposite direction.

It was the death of Ashley the Footballer and the birth of ‘Cashley’, a personification of everything that was wrong with the modern game – a moniker which, even a decade on and with his career all but over, he is yet to shake. Bad advice, bad decisions, bad autobiographies. SSB

33. Steve Daley (Wolves to Man City, 1979)

Fee: £1.4m
Manchester City manager Malcolm Allison claimed he’d offered a tidy £400,000 to Wolves for dogged midfielder Steve Daley in September 1979, only for City chairman Peter Swales to add a cool £1 million to the fee, and nab him for £1.4m.

 

Swales may have denied Big Mal’s claim but the move never worked out, with Daley – a neat and tidy player – failing to live up to hype. The Observer described his arrival at Maine Road as “the latest plutocratic passenger on the City gravy train”.

Daley departed after two years, with City struggling financially and his own reputation in tatters. The nadir came at Brighton, when Daley was sent off with 15 minutes remaining and City contrived to throw away their lead. “The referee came to me after the game and said he felt bad for sending me off,” he later recalled to FFT. “He had seen the look of dejection on my face. He added that the best thing I could do was go and play in the North American Soccer League, and that’s what I did.” JS

32. Alan Smith (Leeds to Man United, 2004)

Fee: £7m
He could hardly have been clearer. “Man United,” Smith replied, when asked in a Sky Sports interview whether there was a team he would never play for.

At that point, the boyhood Leeds fan was living the dream by representing his hometown club in the Premier League, but relegation and the threat of administration brought about his departure in 2004. United, who bid £7m for the striker’s services, would be his next employers.

“I was young and naive [when I made that comment] and never thought that a) Man United would ever want me, and b) Leeds would sell me,” Smith reflected in a 2015 One-on-One with FFT. “Look how silly I was.” GL

31. Esteban Cambiasso (Inter to Leicester, 2014)

Fee: Free
After a decade at Inter, Cambiasso fancied a new challenge – and boy did he get one in the East Midlands. In one of the oddest and most intriguing signings the Premier League has ever seen, the 52-time Argentina international – and 2010 Champions League winner – spurned advances from elsewhere to join Nigel Pearson’s newly promoted Leicester.

“I know the coach and the club had an idea for me,” said the then-34-year-old, whose preferred No.19 shirt was left open by the Foxes in the hope they’d land their man. “The first option was Cambiasso, the second option was Cambiasso, and when I knew this I called my brother/agent and I said, ‘we go there’.”

 

For a little while he may have been regretting it. Despite scoring in the Foxes’ exhilarating 5-3 win over Manchester United in September, a dreadful run of just two wins from their next 25 league games left Pearson’s side almost resigned to relegation, seven points from safety.

But then that fightback: seven wins from their last nine games to complete a miraculous escape, with Cambiasso’s experience driving the Foxes through it. Leicester wanted him to stay for another year; instead, he chose a return to the Champions League with Olympiakos. Turns out they were quite all right without him. JB

55-41 • 40-31

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