7 Transfers That Ruined Footballers' Careers

transfers can make or break footballers careers cristiano ronaldo was an incredibly talented 18 year old but it is hard to imagine that he would have gone on to reach the heights that he did if he hadn't been signed by alex ferguson and integrated into a manchester united dressing room which extol the virtues of discipline and hard work at such a young age philippe coutinho on the other hand choosing to leave liverpool where he was widely considered to be jung klopp's star manager in his early days at anfield in order to join fc barcelona well let's just say that one didn't work out quite so well except perhaps for coutinho's bank balance it is those types of career destroying transfers that we are interested in here except of course coutinho's career wasn't entirely ruined by joining barcelona just quite badly damaged and the seven that you are about to see all made moves that had far more detrimental effects upon their careers i don't want to focus on transfers like owen hargreaves to manchester united or more recently eden hazard to real madrid where the cause of their downfall was primarily injury related partly because that's just not as interesting but also because it isn't really the transfer that is to blame in those instances it is perfectly possible if not quite likely that hargreaves and hazard would have suffered similar injury problems had they stayed at bayern munich or chelsea respectively even transfers like andrei chevchenko or fernando torres to chelsea or kakat or real madrid where the player had let's face it already peaked in their careers and enjoyed extraordinary success and was either on the decline or went on to experience mild injury problems have been largely disregarded i want the transfers themselves to really be at the crux of the excrement hitting the fan in terms of these careers right without freddie then whose 2007 move to real salt lake is surely a very worthy honourable mention here are seven transfers that really did destroy players careers seventh aratoran to barcelona i'll be honest with you barcelona were not lacking in candidates for a seven of the silk i think the catalan giant steals to sign the likes of alexander haleb alex song ibrahim affiliate and alan halilovich were all hugely detrimental to the players in question but the transfer that i chose as my sole barcelona representative is aratoran a brilliant battling turkish attacking midfielder who appeared to be right at home playing in a feisty atletico madrid side under the watchful eye of fellow traveler diego simeone there was very little about arda toran in 2015 aside from the fact that he was one of the best footballers in spain that screamed out fc barcelona at the time barcelona was still the best team in europe they had just won the treble breezing past juventus in the champions league final with a midfield of javi iniesta busquets and rakitic and that's indomitable forward line of messi suarez and neymar that summer's transfer business could rarely be said to have been the start of boss's decline under joseph bartomeu as they were banned by fifa from registering any new players due to breaching transfer and registration rules sounds kind of familiar that meant that araturan couldn't even play for barcelona until the following january after his potential 41 million euro move six months on the sidelines isn't ideal at the best of times for a footballer let alone at a new club with such formidable competition despite that once toran could play and got back up to full speed he did show signs of why some people still consider him to be the greatest turkish footballer of all time under luis enrique it was following ernesto valverde's appointment 18 months after toran made his barcelona debut the maid has moved to the camp now essentially a death knell for his career valverde completely throws toran out for no reason at least as far as toran was concerned he didn't play a single minute in the first half of the 2017-18 season and barcelona's eagerness to get rid of toran was summed up in their deal to loan him out to istanbul the shekshaya for two and a half years so the entirety of his barcelona contract whilst they continued to pay almost all of his wages back in turkey toran was handed a record 16 game ban for pushing over an assistant referee and whilst he was sidelined he was found guilty of intentionally injuring a turkish singer in a nightclub and firing an illegal firearm within a hospital on the same night as you do it is all too easy to forget just how phenomenally talented are toran was at age 35 he now finds himself out of contract once again having made just seven league appearances and being accused of being overweight and unfit at galatasaray last season at one time however he was a talismanic figure in an atletico madrid side that battled against all the odds and some much wealthier rivals to win the copper del rey the europa league and a laliga title toran therefore still achieved far more than most but his move to barcelona came when he was still only 28 years old and its impact upon his career was similar to that of taking a chainsaw to a prawn cracker which is obviously something that i have done many many times 6. matea cashman to chelsea younger viewers might not even have any recollection of materia cashman and for some their only memories of him will be from his time at chelsea prior to joining the blues however keshman was one of the most prolific and sought-after strikers in all of europe having scored 43 goals in 74 games four partisan belgrade largely while still in his teens cashman struck 129 times in 176 games following a move to psv including an incredible 66 goals in only 62 league games in his last two seasons there that's earned cashman comparisons with great psv strikers of old such as ronaldo romario and rude van nisroy and it also meant that there was a great deal of interest in signing him the serbian most likely had the choice of just about every club in europe in the summer of 2004 but he chose to join chelsea inheriting the number nine shirt that had been vacated by jimmy floyd hasselbank kejman arrived during the same summer as jose mourinho and whilst chelsea would go on to enjoy great success the serbian seemed to shrink at stamford bridge one of football's finest goal scorers could only manage seven goals in 41 games at chelsea and just four in the premier league there is a perception i think that keshman was just a flat track bully who scored goals for fun in the era of eze but was found out so to speak in the premier league but i'm not quite convinced whilst keshman looked to be a force of nature in eindhoven who would have been capable of scoring goals in a vacuum in reality the team was really built around him at chelsea not only would that not be the case cashman wouldn't even be the blues first choice centre-forward that would be didier drogba and at times article johnson forcing cashman out wide sapping him of opportunities in front of goal and subsequently his confidence as he failed to find the back of their net chelsea was a juggernaut at the time recently acquired by roman abramovich and well on course to become a ruthless trophy winning machine they waited for no man and cashman was no exception sold after just a single season at the bridge the real tragedy was that cashman could never rebuild his confidence or career after leaving the club he scored a handful of goals for atletico madrid fenerbahce and psg but the fact that a man who was once compared to ruud van niseroy was as good as retired by the age of 30 and not because of injuries i think owes an awful lot to a horrible decision to join chelsea in 2004 fifth thomas brolin to lead united i know what some of you are thinking hang on a minute alfie you said in the introduction that you wanted specifically transfers that ruined careers not injuries or personal issues that just happen to follow transfers and now you're including thomas brolin who was totally unfit to play football at leeds united well yes and no firstly the context thomas brolin was one of the most enigmatic and talented attacker midfielders on the planet during the early 1990s a talismanic figure in a parma team that won the uefa cup the uefa cup winners cup the uefa super cup and a copper italia and in a sweden team which finished third at the 1994 world cup prompting brolin to finish joint fourth in that year's ballon d'or voting when leeds united signed him in the summer of 1995 this was supposed to be their camp moment manager howard wilkinson promised brolin that he would build his team around him making brolin the key man in the leads midfield operating centrally in behind tony yabella but olin claims that is what sold him on a move to allen road so when he was asked to play as a striker initially and later on the right flank he was less than impressed despite scoring a brace in a tuna win against west ham from the right flank when he was asked to play there again brolin decided that he would have a deliberately terrible game in order to force wilkinson's hand leeds lost 5-0 to liverpool but it wouldn't have the effect that brolin desired he was frozen out by the club and sent out on loan to fc's yorick in switzerland before going awol after howard wilkinson was sacked and replaced by george graham who brolin described as being quote an even bigger idiot than wilkinson himself you could claim i think quite reasonably that brolin was unprofessional and failed to stay fit and that is on him sure but his character was such that he was never likely to respond well to being played out of position or asked to contribute so much defensively as such it was the move to leeds united a club that promised but failed to accommodate someone of enormous talent that ruined brolin's career and a better move in 1995 despite all of brolin's personal flaws most likely would have resulted in a very different outcome instead brolin went from finishing ahead of the likes of eric cantona and franco barazi in ballon d'or voting at the age of only 25 to retiring at 28. fourth daniel center real betis the biggest transfer in this seven in terms of the fee involved and especially at the time brazilian wildman da nielsen joined rael bettis for a world record-breaking 21.5 million pound fee back in the summer of 1998. de nielsen's reputation was sky high at the time having featured in every game for brazil as they reached the final of the 1998 world cup in addition to having been part of the brazil teams that won the copper america and the confederations cup in 1997 his destination therefore surprised some people as royal betis had just finished eighth in la liga with the worst goal difference in the top half of spanish football's top flight that was due to betis's inability to score goals but de nielsen was meant to be the solution to those problems unfortunately for betis as they probably should have known denilson had never scored prolifically just 26 goals in 191 games for sao paulo and 1861 for brazil what he was however was immensely skillful audacious and capable of producing moments of sheer magic that is why in all but one of brazil's games at the 1998 world cup he was introduced off the bench brought on by mario zagarlo with the intention of changing a game coming off the bench against tired defenses his flair and invention dovetail beautifully with the likes of rivaldo ronaldo and babito but at betis without those types of players around him and expected to win games on his own something which he had never really done de nielsen was almost doomed from day one after betis were relegated during his debut campaign the giant 10-year deal that he had signed at the club seemed to be somewhat ill-judged by both parties de nielsen did help betis win promotion back to la liga and he went on to spend seven years in seville but only very occasionally did he show glimpses of the player that he once was and most likely would have continued to be for many years to come had he joined a different club in the summer of 1998 third jackson martinez to atletico madrid signed by atletico madrid for an almost identical fee during the same summer that arda toran departed unlike toran martinez could at least play for atletico madrid as soon as he arrived at absolute goal scoring machine at porto martinez scored 92 goals in 132 games for the portuguese giants hence why he commanded a 35 million euro transfer fee brought into partner antoine griezmann at a club that is renowned for its fine track record when it comes to developing forwards martinez ended up spending just six months at the wonder metropolitano before setting sail for guangzhou evergrande in the chinese super league in a move that really would quite literally destroy his career martinez is often described as having been a poor signing by atletico but they actually sold him for a 7 million euro profit the real victim of that transfer was not atletico but martinez himself who went from being one of the most highly regarded center forwards in the european game to scoring just three goals in 22 games before being packed off and exiled to china all in the space of just half a season you might think that martin has his move to guangxiao evergrande would have been a more suitable inclusion given that it was in china that he suffered an ankle injury after just 10 games aged only 29 from which he would never recover however in that instance it would be a case of a horrible injury being to blame rather than the move itself indeed martinez had actually scored four goals in his first 10 games in china before that devastating setback whereas without his ill-judge move to atletico martinez most likely never would have found himself playing in china in the first place quite why things didn't work out for martinez in madrid it is a little bit trickier to unpack than some of the other inclusions in this seven certainly he had fewer chances in a counter-attacking atletico side than he had in a porto team that dominated the vast majority of their games but it wasn't just that the colombian was being asked to do new things and having been so instinctive in terms of his finishing and his movement particularly within the six yard box at porto that new information just seemed to make him overthink everything eventually martinez just ceased to make as many runs into the box or get into the six yard box as often as he had done at porto so it was no surprise that the goals dried up nielanti to aston villa neil anti's tale is a truly tragic one abused and neglected by his parents lampty found refuge in football though during his early years his father would still shout abuse at him from the touchline when he was only eight his stepfather kicked him out and he was taken in by a muslim football camp where he was required to convert from christianity to islam despite his upbringing lampty's enormous ability with a ball at his feet still couldn't be dampened and so talented was lampsey even in his teens the ghanaian fa refused to let him leave the country to join a european club and even confiscated his passport hoping to build the national team around him eventually lampty had to be smuggled out of ghana firstly to nigeria where super eagles captain stephen cashier took him to belgium claimed that he was his own son and got into train with amdilet the belgian giants wasted no time in signing lampty up and his promise was such that the belgian fa even had to change the league's rules in order to allow him to make his debut at the age of 16. hailed as pele's successor by none other than pele himself lampty was a sensation at the age of 18 he went on loan to psv where he scored 10 goals in 22 games prompting interest from almost every club in europe however lampty's agent the italian antonio caliendo was due 25 of whatever fee anderlecht received for the teenager which meant that he was far less motivated by what would be the best move for his client and far more motivated by the fee that was involved it was aston villa who stumped up the most cash so it was aston villa who signed lampty in the summer of 1994. caliendo ruthlessly exploited lampty according to multiple reports even allegedly keeping his sign on fee and the move stunted the development of one of the most talented teenagers in the history of the sport lampty was flourishing at psv who were a big club at the time dare i say even bigger than aston villa as was evidenced by them signing ronaldo from cruzeiro during the same summer that lampsia departed had the ghanaian been allowed to continue his development in eindhoven alongside ronaldo no less the sky really could have been the limit instead lampty moved to the premier league a league which had virtually no african players at that time where he had no support network and the manager who signed him would be sacked within weeks of his arrival ron atkinson was replaced by brian little a rigid defensive disciplinarian who saw no role for the raw talent of lampty within his starting eleven benched the youngster's development was further halted and he was soon signed by coventry city a year later lancy joined boca juniors hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow former wonder kid diego armando maradona but shortly after arriving in argentina lampty's son was taken ill and tragically died of a lung condition years later the same condition would take another of lamps children and his nomadic career came to very little lampty's debut for ghana came at just 16 and his final cap at the age of 21. when his sons died ghanaian authorities refused for them to even be buried in lanti's homeland lampty's life has been a tragedy that even the great ancient greek playwrights would have considered too devastating and one hopes that he has found some peace now aged 47. first neil franklin to independiente santa fe what's that the sound of a few thousand of you sighing yes as some of you will know i have written a book about neil franklin football in the pre inter and post-war era and the period of civil war known as la valencia in colombia which is available from not very many bookstores anywhere but there are still a few copies available from my website www.englandsgreatestdefender.com i have not included neil franklin or put in top of this seven just for that shameless plug though i have done so because his transfer to independente santa fe in 1950 is i believe the most damaging transfer to a player's career in which no injury accidents or natural disaster was involved franklin was the finest defender in europe and most likely in the world in 1950 the first name on the england team sheet franklin had played in a record 27 consecutive england international since world war ii and even more if one is to account for wartime fixtures without being dropped not only was franklin masterful in terms of his timing whether it came to heading tackling or intercepting the ball he was also as gifted with a ball at his feet as almost any forward or midfielder in england at that time and he was considered to be a safe bet to become the first footballer from any country to win 100 international caps however on the eve of england's first appearance at the fifa world cup franklin told the fa that he couldn't travel to brazil and that they would have to leave him out as his wife was due to give birth whilst the tournament was taking place it was a devastating blow for england and there was a national scandal therefore when it emerged just before the tournament that franklin had still flown to south america for an entirely different purpose the centre-half had agreed to join independiente santa fe in the colombian capital of bogota at a time when british footballers simply did not venture abroad let alone to an entirely different continent and a country that most people in britain had never even heard of colombia had exiled itself from fifa and therefore didn't have to pay any transfer fees their clubs simply agreed deals typically for enormous wages with players as a bandit league as though they were free agents several world-class players made the move including alfredo de stefano though not as high-profile as franklin from britain prompting terror and outrage from the football association that meant that when the move turned sour and franklin returned home after just six weeks colombia was in the midst of a bloody civil war at the time among other inconveniences the fa wanted to make an example of him he was banned for months upon months transfer listed by stoke city and no other first division team would dare to sign him yet he still managed to be signed by hull city in the second division for a world record fee for a defender without him england would be humiliated by the amateurs of the united states at the world cup in brazil and even following his return to england they were still too proud to bring him back into the national team fold instead england went through 10 inferior center-backs over the next few years alone getting thrashed twice by the great hungary team of the 1950s franklin meanwhile would never return to the first division suffering a devastating knee entry in hull before dropping down the divisions with the likes of crew alexander stockport county and mackelsfeld macclesfeldtown so that is it for today's video there are lots of honorable mentions but just because there's a slight chance i'll make a part two i won't reel through them all now i might also make a part two of the video that i made some of you may recall of seven transfers that destroyed entire football clubs so feel free to leave your suggestions on that front in the comments if you have any thank you all very much azer for watching i hope you enjoyed today's video hit the like button if that was the case let me know your thoughts down below in the comments and make sure that you are 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Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 349,298

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, Transfers, Signings, Ruined, Careers, Footballers, Players, Premier League, Jackson Martinez, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Arda Turan, Fernando Torres

Id: 5oiwa8vAcUo

Length: 25min 1sec (1501 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 09 2022