Top 10 Transfer Sagas

• Poignant

  9 Aug 10, 12:13

  Top 10 Transfer Sagas

  In tribute to Cesc Fabregas and the avalanche of news stories on his on/off move to Barcelona we recall 10 of the best sagas which dominated the headlines...

  

  Rafael van der Vaart Valencia

  
  

  
  10) Cesc Fabregas
  Arsenal - Barcelona (2010)
  
  
  
  Despite being pictured in a Barcelona shirt and making it abundantly clear he wanted to go back to Spain, the Gunners have managed to hold onto their man...for now. Prepare yourself for another instalment 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 said: "We don't need Quaresma". It didn't help that Porto were looking for silly money for the winger, believed to be around €40m. Mourinho played hard ball with his old club and urged Moratti to get out his cheque book before a deal was finally done for a fee of €18.6m, with young Inter player Pele moving in the opposite direction.
  
  Inter fans were left wondering what all the fuss was about as Quaresma failed to make an impression at 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 old 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 long as three years ago, Villa was rumoured to be on the way to Manchester United and latterly Manchester City for £40m since then. Chelsea were best placed and offered Villa a salary of £10m a year, but the player was always keen to remain in Spain.
  
  "I do not close the door to either Real Madrid or Barcelona.
  
  "I am 27 years old and I do not know what will happen in my future. I have a contract with Valencia until I'm 32, but nobody knows what the future holds," he said 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 buying every single attacking player in the world, Real Madrid set their sights on Bayern Munich playmaker Franck Ribery last summer. Endorsed by Zinedine Zidane, the Frenchman was tipped to follow in the footsteps of Kaka and Ronaldo by moving to the Bernabeu.
  
  Desperate to leave the Allianz, Ribery told L'Equipe: "I have made up my mind, I want to leave. It will be Real or nothing." It was claimed a deal was done for Ribery to do one more season - a la Ronaldo - and join in 2010. He won't be going anywhere until at least 2015, having signed a new contract with his current 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 things got spicy when Real Madrid wanted the player too and offered money to Millionarios to get him. A lengthy saga ensued, forcing the Spanish football authorities to get involved before the player made the move from Barcelona to Real Madrid in time for the new season. Read more about this controversial transfer in the top 10 transfers that never were.
  
  
  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 happen, as Sevilla turned down two bids for their star full-back who made his feelings perfectly clear.
  
  "I want to continue growing as a player and if that has to be somewhere else, then it will be somewhere else," Alves said at the time.
  
  He was dismayed at being told he would have to remain at Sevilla and fell out with the club's president as his form suffered. Coach Juande Ramos was happy with the news but then jumped ship himself to London to coach Tottenham a few months into the season. 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)
  
  
  
  Much like picking up your tennis racket for two weeks during Wimbledon, the Vieira to Real Madrid story became an annual summer event. After getting shot of Vieira's French team-mate Claude Makelele to Chelsea, the Spanish outfit were desperate for some steel to add to their superstar line-up. In 2004 the deal finally looked like being done, with Arsenal accepting a £30m fee 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 in 2007. Hamburg weren't willing to let him go for the €14m offered and the player went out of his way to make the move happen. 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 the final straw was when the player invited journalists to his house 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 a Valencia shirt with the name van der Verrat on it. Verrat being the German word for betrayal.
  
  
  2) John Obi Mikel
  Lyn Oslo/Manchester United - Chelsea (2006)
  
  
  
  A controversial transfer involving agents, strange TV interviews, death threats and the eventual payment of millions to a club which Mikel never kicked a ball for.
  
  The player had been identified by Manchester United in 2003 after starring in the FIFA U-17 World Youth Championships. He joined Norwegian side Lyn Oslo to enable him to get a work permit and was announced as a Manchester United player shortly afer 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 with 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 join Chelsea instead.
  
  FIFA were forced to get involved and the transfer looked to be 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 transfer.
  
  
  1) Cristiano Ronaldo
  Manchester United - Real Madrid (2008,2009)
  
  
  
  This one was always going to happen once Ronaldo put himself in the Madrid shop window after a stunning 2007-08 season when he scored 42 goals. Desperate to join Los Blancos, the player, who was earning £120,000 a week with Manchester United, compared himself to a 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 with the Red Devils for another campaign. The media went into collective mourning when Ronaldo joined Madrid early the following summer, ensuring there was no repeat of the previous year's saga.