Big money, flops and ‘traitors’ all in the name of player transfers

The curtains are coming down on the European football season this weekend, leaving fans on a three-month lull.

Of course there’s still the mouthwatering Uefa Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool on March 28 in Paris. After that it will be till August before European football resumes.

In the meantime, we are left to contend with the business of player transfers. To the casual fan, these transfers are just but a precursor to the season ahead, yet a closer observation reveals a myriad of no less intriguing narratives.

Money makes the world go round and it’s no secret that it will make a huge impact on transfer decisions this season. The world record for football transfer fees is the 222 million Euros that PSG forked out to acquire the services of Neymar Junior from FC Barcelona in 2017.

Neymar’s move was viewed by Barcelona fans as rapacious and largely motivated by pursuit of personal glory.

But Neymar is not the only player in the modern game who’s made a big money move. 

Kylian Mbappe, Joao Felix, Phillipe Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann respectively rank second to fifth in the top transfer fees hierarchy.

Sadly, for Coutinho and Griezmann, their performance for their new clubs looked nothing like their price tags.

Yet, money hasn’t always been the main factor in players’ transfers. Some years back before the top European leagues became the behemoths and money minting machines that they are today, top players moved clubs primarily to advance their careers and to pursue success on the playing field.

Others were motivated by cultural affiliations or the desire to achieve a childhood dream.

Though not entirely altruistic, players’ choice of clubs (or the lack of it) meant that a strong bond was forged between player, club and fans.

So strong was the bonds and sense of belonging, that some players played for a single club through their entire professional careers. 

The likes of Paulo Maldini (AC Milan), Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher (both Liverpool), Francesco Totti (Roma), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) and Carles Puyol (Barcelona) are among famous footballers who had illustrious careers at one club.

But then, there was an era when moving to a rival club was considered “sacrilege”. Imagine what a Catalan father would have thought of his Barcelona playing son considering a switch to the Bernabeu.

Or closer home, a Luo player joining the ranks of Ingwe. Some sort of cleansing ritual would have been required to fend off such ominous inclinations.

Indeed, massive civil disobedience erupted in the city of Florence upon the announcement of the transfer deal that saw Roberto Baggio move from Fiorentina to Juventus in 1990.

Fifty people were reported injured in the skirmishes. Luis Figo, former Barcelona’s talisman and a hitherto loved figure at Camp Nou, faced the wrath of the fans upon his return there as a Real Madrid player.

The Portuguese winger was greeted with banners that read “Judas” and “traitor”. He was also pelted with all sorts of missiles, including a pig’s head!

Back home, many older football fans still can’t wrap their minds around how two brothers from the Mulembe nation – Enock and William Obwaka – plied their trade for Gor Mahia.

Or what made John "Zangi" Okello decamp from K’Ogalo to Ingwe. Such is the peculiarity of player transfers.

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