The top 10 most controversial transfers of all time: Real Madrid, Man Utd deals and more…

James Pennington 26 Jul 2024 4:07 PM

Carlos Tevez, Luis Figo and Sol Campbell all made controversial moves in their careers

Ryan Giggs. Paolo Maldini. Francesco Totti. Iker Casillas. Carles Puyol. Steven Gerrard. What do all these players have in common? Not only did they all retire from the beautiful game many years ago now, but they all showed unwavering loyalty to their football clubs.

They say the age of loyalty in football is now nothing more than a thing of the past with the lucrative influx of money that has made its way into the sport, but some players take disloyalty to a whole new level.

Following Michy Batshuayi’s recent move across the Turkish capital from Fenerbahce to Galatasaray, this got us thinking, what are the most controversial transfers of all time?

From pig heads being thrown to burning scarves, in no particular order, here are the top 10 most controversial transfers of all time.

Michy Batshuayi

The inspiration for this list, Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi has become somewhat of a journeyman since he joined Chelsea back in July 2016 for €39m (£32.8m) from French side Marseille.

Batshuayi would struggle to nail down a starting birth at Stamford Bridge and like many before him, he would head out on a series of loan moves including Borussia Dortmund, Valencia, Crystal Palace and Besiktas.

Besiktas would be the 30-year-old’s first club in the Turkish capital and after one season on loan, he would join fellow Istanbul club Fenerbahce on a permanent deal in September 2022.

After two seasons at the club, Batshuayi would then boldly switch to Galatasaray this summer following the expiration of his contract.

Death threats from Fenerbahce fans have been sent to Batshuayi and his family, including his child, whilst racist comments have also been directed at the striker.

In making the move, Batshuayi has become the 11th player to have represented Turkey’s three biggest clubs and the first foreign player to do so.

Sol Campbell

Powerful centre-back Sol Campbell was a firm fan favourite at Tottenham, having come through the club’s youth ranks and going on to make over 250 league appearances for the North London club.

But in the summer of 2001, Campbell decided to reject a new deal at Spurs which would have made him the side’s highest-paid player of all time in favour of a switch to bitter rivals Arsenal following the expiration of his contract.

Campbell would go on to make 195 appearances for The Gunners and won two Premier League winner’s medals and three FA Cup winner’s medals, whilst also being a major part of the Arsenal side which would go invincible in the league and secured the title at White Hart Lane.

This move has led Spurs fans to label him as ‘Judas’ even up until this very day having tarnished his reputation in the lily-white colours.

Luis Figo

Portuguese winger Luis Figo had a glittering career in which he made over 700 appearances for club and country across a 20-year period, topped off by winning the Ballon d’Or in 2000, pipping Zinedine Zidane to the award.

Though the Ballon d’Or victory may have been the pinnacle of his career, many remember Figo’s time in football for a different reason.

In July 2000, Real Madrid activated his €62m (£52.1m) release clause from El Clasico rivals Barcelona in a move that broke the world record transfer fee for a player and shook the fabric of the sport.

In November 2002, his second time back at Camp Nou as a Real Madrid player, a Barcelona fan would throw a pig’s head at Figo as he went to take a corner in what would become an iconic photo in the rivalry’s history.

The Portuguese winger would spend five seasons in Madrid before departing to Inter Milan in 2005 after being named by sports newspaper Marca as a member of the “Best foreign eleven in Real Madrid’s history”.

Ashley Cole

Widely regarded as one of, if not the best left-back to have ever played the game, Ashley Cole had a decorated career which saw him lift the Premier League on three occasions, both the Champions League and Europa League once and a staggering seven FA Cups.

A product of the Arsenal youth system, Cole made his professional debut for The Gunners in 1999 and would go on to make over 200 appearances for the club he supported as a child.

However, in 2006, Cole was left “trembling with anger” after Arsenal only offered him a wage of £55,000 per week, which led him to seek a move to London rivals Chelsea.

A move to Stamford Bridge was finalised that summer with Arsenal fans now giving him the nickname ‘Cashley’ and proceeded to wave fake £20 notes with Cole’s face on them at him when the two clubs met the following December.

Once seen as one of the heroes of the invincible side, this move tarnished the Englishman’s reputation in the red side of north London for good.

Carlos Tevez

Argentine striker Carlos Tevez has never been one to distance himself from drama.

He first made the move to English football in August 2006 when he joined West Ham alongside compatriot Javier Mascherano in a deal that itself was full of controversy, with multiple third parties having been involved in the deal.

Tevez would turn down a move to Inter Milan in 2007 in favour of a switch to Man Utd, where he signed a two-year loan deal in the north-west.

Following the expiration of that loan deal, Man Utd had agreed to a £25.5m deal to sign the forward on a permanent basis. However, Tevez declined the offer in favour of moving to cross-town rivals Manchester City.

The famous billboard reading ‘Welcome to Manchester’ with Tevez’s face and the City colours was plastered in the city centre, just to rub salt into the wounds. Brutal.

Roberto Baggio

Considered one of the greatest Italian football players of all time, Roberto Baggio would spend his entire career playing in the country of his birth after coming through the youth ranks at Vicenza.

At the end of the 1984-85 season whilst still at Vicenza, Baggio shattered both his ACL and Meniscus in his right knee two days before his move to Fiorentina was finalised, which put the move in doubt.

Just 18 at the time, Fiorentina put faith in Baggio and went ahead with the deal despite his injury. This would prove to be a masterstroke for La Viola.

Baggio would go on to become one of the club’s greatest-ever players and after five seasons, purple hearts would break when Baggio made the move to domestic rivals Juventus for a world record fee of £8m.

Riots broke out in the streets of Florence as a result of the move, with the 1993 Ballon d’Or winner later saying “I was compelled to accept the transfer.”

In a game between Baggio’s former and current club, as he was being substituted, a Fiorentina scarf was thrown at him, which he picked up and later stated that he would be ‘Always purple’ in his heart.

Robin van Persie

The third and final entry involving Arsenal in this list concerns Dutch goal-machine Robin van Persie, whose move from The Emirates to domestic rivals Man Utd in 2012 was mired with bitterness from Gunners fans.

The striker would spend eight years at Arsenal from 2004-2012 after leaving Feyenoord and would go on to contribute to 188 goals in all competitions in 278 appearances in north London.

In July 2012, the Dutchman announced that he would not be signing a new deal with Arsenal, which alerted the interest of Sir Alex Ferguson and Man Utd, who purchased the striker for £22.5m the following August.

In his first season at Utd, the striker would be the Premier League’s top goalscorer with 26 goals and fired The Red Devils to their 20th league title and the first and only league title of his career, as well as the club’s Player of the Year.

Johan Cruyff

To have a stadium, a skill move and an award named after you, you’ve had to have had a great impact on the game and Johan Cruyff certainly did.

The Dutch forward was born in Amsterdam and came through the youth ranks at Ajax before making his debut in the first team in 1964, where he would spend nine years before moving to Barcelona and redefining the game as we know it.

His second spell at Ajax between 1981 and 1983 would end with a sour taste as the club decided not to offer him another contract. Angered by this decision, the three-time Ballon d’Or winner decided to sign for arch-rivals Feyenoord.

In his first and only season in Rotterdam, he helped the club win the Eredivisie for the first time in a decade and the KNVB Cup, proving that class is permanent and leaving Ajax to rue their mistake.

Eric Cantona

French maverick Eric Cantona was never one to shy away from the headlines.

His initial move to England came with Yorkshire club Leeds United in 1992, initially on loan and then permanently the same year. Then manager, Howard Wilkinson, dropped him in the victory over Arsenal which saw the Frenchman then refuse to train.

A move to bitter rivals Man Utd was then swiftly completed which was met with hostility from Leeds fans.

Even worse for Leeds, Cantona would go on to win four more Premier League with Man Utd as well as two FA Cups, scoring 81 goals and assisting a further 62 across 184 appearances for the club in all competitions.

For a player who would go on to define the early stages of the Premier League era, £1m to your biggest rivals ought to have hurt.

Mo Johnston

Rounding out this list takes us to Glasgow, with the controversial case of Scottish striker Mo Johnston.

Born and raised as a Catholic, Johnston played for Celtic between 1984 and 1987 before moving to French side Nantes and after two years in France, he openly wanted to return to the Scottish Premier League.

Johnston would state “Celtic is the only team that I want to play for” but instead joined Graeme Souness at Rangers in 1989, becoming the first Catholic player to have played for the club since the World War I era.

This angered both Celtic and Rangers fans with even some Rangers fans burning scarves and threatening to hand in season tickets, whilst Celtic fans referred to the striker as Judas.

He scored a late winning goal in the Old Firm derby match in November 1989, which won over a lot of Rangers fans.

Since then, Rangers have tended to stay away from signing any Catholic players, with the case of Johnston remaining the highest-profile Catholic signing the club has ever made.