Six craziest transfer hijacks in football history: The Eze saga isn’t the most painful yet

Last-minute transfer drama is not new with some illustrious involved in bizarre events

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After Arsenal’s recent hijack of Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace left Tottenham fans fuming, it’s worth remembering that last-minute transfer drama isn’t anything new in football.

Transfer windows are supposed to be straightforward. Player wants to move, clubs agree a fee, done deal. Yeah, right. Some of the craziest stories in football happen when everything goes wrong at the last minute.

When Paul Gascoigne broke Manchester United hearts

Back in 1988, everyone thought Gazza was heading to Old Trafford. He had given his word to Sir Alex before going on summer holidays, and United fans were buzzing. Then Tottenham chairman Irving Scholar decided to mess everything up. He convinced Gascoigne to join Spurs instead, and United supporters are probably still angry about it today. Ferguson never really got over losing out on Gazza, whose career would have definitely been shaped differently under Ferguson.

King Kenny bashing Roy Keane

Manchester United pulled off their own transfer hijack in 1993 when they convinced Roy Keane to ditch his handshake agreement with Kenny Dalglish and Blackburn Rovers, leading to an infamous phone call where the furious Liverpool legend tore into Keane and threatened to hunt him down during his holiday in Ayia Napa. Sir Alex Ferguson’s personal intervention proved decisive in turning Keane’s head away from Blackburn and toward Old Trafford.

Mikel’s bizarre United-Chelsea mess

This story is absolutely mad. In 2005, Manchester United held a proper press conference with John Obi Mikel holding up the shirt and everything. The Nigerian midfielder looked thrilled to be joining Ferguson’s team. Except Chelsea said hang on a minute, we already signed him months ago. What followed was twelve months of lawyers, arguments, and nobody knowing where poor Mikel was actually going to play. Eventually Chelsea got their man and United got some money from the legal proceedings. John Obi Mikel went on to win a lot of trophies at Chelsea Football Club.

Willian’s betrayal

Tottenham fans haven’t recovered from the Eze hijack deal. But it’s not a new thing for them. Back in summer 2013, Brazilian winger Willian rocked up at Spurs’ training ground, passed his medical, posed for photos. £32 million deal with Russian side Anzhi, everything signed and sealed. Then Roman Abramovich decided he fancied the player. One phone call later and Willian was heading across London to Chelsea instead. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was reportedly furious. Can’t say we blame him.

Malcom’s plane hijack

This tops everything. July 2018, Brazilian forward Malcom was literally walking through the airport to catch his flight to Rome. AS Roma fans were tracking the flight, getting excited, planning welcome parties. The guy had probably already picked out his apartment. Barcelona called him while he was at the gate. Twenty minutes of sweet talking later and he was on a different plane to Spain. Roma’s Twitter account went into meltdown. Their fans were posting angry videos for weeks. Malcom joined Barcelona but couldn’t succeed there.

The chaos never stops

Moises Caicedo’s situation was no different either. Brighton accepted Chelsea’s record bid, Caicedo agreed terms, medical booked. Liverpool decided they wanted him more and made their own offer. For about six hours nobody knew where he was going. Eventually the Ecuadorean chose Chelsea anyway, but the drama was mental.

From code to kick-off: Gulf News’ Mohammed Shamsheer spends his weekdays in DevOps and weekends watching football — a proud Chelsea supporter through and through.

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