10 most loyal footballers in European club football currently

Bhargav
Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi
Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi

With the increasing commercialisation of football, hefty transfer fees and exorbitant player wages have become the norm rather than the exception.

In 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo became the most expensive player in the world when Real Madrid paid £80 million (€94 million) to Manchester United to acquire his services. A decade later, when Ronaldo moved to Juventus for €117 million, it was only the fifth-most expensive transfer in world football.

That was because, in 2017-18, Paris St. Germain flexed their financial muscles to acquire Neymar from Barcelona for a mind-boggling €222 million transfer fee that made the Brazilian the most expensive player in the world. Barcelona used those funds to bring in Ousmane Dembele for €138 million and Philippe Coutinho for €145 million.

Nowadays, besides having lucrative sponsorship and image rights deals, players are also exceptionally well paid in terms of their wages. Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly earns over €400,000 a week at Juventus. The corresponding amounts for Neymar (PSG) and Lionel Messi are over €700,000 and €547,000 respectively.

Arsenal's striking duo of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette earn around £400,000 a week, an amount that may be considered justifiable considering the goals the duo score. However, someone like Mesut Ozil, who also plays at the same club, earns £350,000 a week despite hardly featuring for the club last season.

Another such player is Gareth Bale, who is considered surplus to requirements at Real Madrid but takes home a cool £600,000 (before taxes) a week. He is apparently quite content to warm the Madrid bench, perhaps because not many clubs would pay him such wages.

High player wages do have repercussions, though. A player earning significantly more than his teammates could cause discord at a club, affecting team morale and unity. Ronaldo reportedly earns more than twice the next best-paid player at Juventus.

And as seen in the cases of Ozil and Bale, high wages can also be a massive stumbling block and putoff for potential suitors when clubs look to jettison unwanted players.

In such a backdrop, virtues like club loyalty are seemingly a thing of the past because players generally do not think twice about jumping ship when they receive a better offer elsewhere.

Even though, the 'one-club man' is a rapidly dying breed, there are players who wish to stay loyal to their clubs even when they receive lucrative offers from elsewhere. On that note, let us have a look at the ten most loyal players in European club football currently.


#10 Sammy Bossut (SV Zulte Waregem) - 14 years and 2 months

Sammy Bossut
Sammy Bossut

Since joining Belgian Pro League club SV Zultegem in 2006-07, 35-year-old goalkeeper Sammy Bossut has been at the club for more than 14 years.

Among a handful of active players who have spent over ten years at one club, Bossut has featured in 419 games in all competitions for the Belgian club and has kept 109 clean sheets. During this period, he has played eight games in the UEFA Cup/Europa League and a handful of qualifying games for the Champions League.

In August, Bossut, however, suffered a severe concussion and skull fracture during an exhibition game against AA Gent, which rules him out for the start of the new Belgian League season.


#9 Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) - 15 years and 1 month

Sergio Ramos hoists aloft the 2019-20 La Liga title.
Sergio Ramos hoists aloft the 2019-20 La Liga title.

Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos has been a fixture at the Bernabeu since joining the club from Sevilla in the summer of 2005.

During his illustrious 15-year stint at the club, which is still ongoing, the 34-year-old Ramos has eked out records galore in Madrid's famed white jersey.

Last season, Ramos became the highest-scoring defender in a La Liga season this century when he scored his 11th goal of the campaign as Real Madrid lifted the 2019-20 Liga title.

In 2018-19, Ramos became the only defender to score in 15 consecutive La Liga seasons, a mark he extended to 16 by scoring his first of 11 goals last season. To put this achievement into perspective, only La Liga top-scorer Lionel Messi has scored in that many consecutive seasons in the history of the Spanish top-flight.

The Real Madrid captain, who has won four Champions League trophies at the club, put on a defensive masterclass as the capital club won their first Liga title in three years.

As if that was not enough, Ramos also made a difference at the other end of the pitch. He scored all of his six spotkicks in La Liga last season. Ramos has now scored 19 successful penalties for club and country since missing against Sevilla in a 2017-18 Liga game.


#8 Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus) - 15 years and 2 months

Giorgio Chiellini has been at Juventus for a decade and a half.
Giorgio Chiellini has been at Juventus for a decade and a half.

Since arriving in Turin from Fiorentina at the start of the 2005-06 season, Giorgio Chiellini has been at Juventus for 15 consecutive seasons.

After he scored the winner against Parma in the defending champions' first game of the season, an anterior cruciate ligament injury ruled him out for large swathes of the campaign,

Nevertheless, the Juventus captain became the first player to feature in at least one game in each of the Bianconeri's nine consecutive Serie A-winning seasons (2011-12 to 2019-20).

During this period, the centre-back has scored 36 goals in 510 appearances for Juventus in various competitions. The versatile Chiellini had actually started off as a left-back before transitioning to the centre of defence under the tutelage of Antonio Conte.

Adept in both a three-man as well as a four-man defence, Chiellini, along with Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci formed Juventus and Italy's famed BBC defensive triumvirate.


#7 Francesco Magnanelli (Sassuolo) - 15 years and 2 months

Francesco Magnanelli
Francesco Magnanelli

Francesco Magnanelli joined Sassuolo from Italian fourth-tier side Sangiovannese at the start of the 2006-07 season when the club from Emiglia-Romagna were in Serie C.

The defensive midfielder played two seasons in the third tier of Italian football before Sassuolo gained promotion to the second division. Magnanelli featured in five seasons of Serie B football before the club earned a promotion to Serie A where they have stayed since 2013-14.

The Sassuolo captain has played 458 games in all competitions for the club, a tally that includes 186 matches in the Italian top flight. During the first half of the 2015-16 season, Magnanelli made more recoveries than any other outfield player in the competition.

#5 Jessy Moulin (St. Etienne) - 15 years and 2 months

Jessy Moulin
Jessy Moulin

Goalkeeper Jessy Moulin has been at Ligue 1 side St. Etienne since the start of the 2005-06 season.

However, during this period, the 34-year-old has also played for three other clubs (Arles Avignon, Frejus St. Raph and Clermont Foot), albeit in loan spells.

Moulin, however, has been a fringe player at the club. That is evident in his meagre tally of 37 appearances in all competitions across 16 seasons.


#5 Oier (Osasuna) - 15 years and 2 months

Oier
Oier

Oier Sanjurjo Mate, more well-known by his first-name Oier (not to be confused with his namesake who plays as a goalkeeper for Espanyol), has been at Osasuna for 15 consecutive seasons since joining the club at the start of the 2005-06 season after graduating from their U19 team.

During this period, the defensive midfielder spent the 2011-12 season on loan at Osasuna's fellow La Liga club Celta Vigo.

In 293 appearances in all competitions for Osasuna, Oier has scored 13 goals and provided ten assists for the club. His versatility has meant that he has also played for the club as a right-back, albeit doing so briefly during the 2010-11 season.


#4 Sergio Alvarez (Celta Vigo) - 16 years and 2 months

Sergio Alvarez
Sergio Alvarez

Sergio Alvarez (not to be confused with his younger namesake who plays for Eibar as a central midfielder) has been at Celta Vigo since the start of the 2004 season after joining the club's Under-19 ranks.

During this period, the goalkeeper mostly played in the La Liga, playing 132 games for the club in the competition and keeping 33 clean sheets. In 54 other appearances for the club, Alvarez kept his citadel intact on 19 further occasions.

Also read: 10 greatest players to have played under Pep Guardiola

#3 Mark Noble (West Ham United) - 16 years and 8 months

Mark Noble
Mark Noble

Mark Noble is one of four active players to have spent over 16 consecutive years at one club. He joined West Ham United in the summer of 2004, where he has stayed there since, except for brief loan spells at Hull City and Ipswich Town.

The 33-year-old Englishman is a rare one-club man in the Premier League. In 502 cumulative appearances for the London clubs, Noble has found the back of the net on 60 occasions, while also providing nearly as many assists (61).

The midfielder's goal against Leicester City in a Premier League game last season made him the West Ham player with the most goal contributions in the competition.

Although the player has attracted interest from a host of domestic rivals, he is unlikely to move ship anytime soon, with Noble ending his career at West Ham being a very likely prospect.


#2 Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 16 years and 8 months

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest player to have graced the game of football.

Since making his debut for Barcelona in the 2004-05 season, Messi has created records galore, with some of them unlikely to ever be emulated by anyone, while winning numerous titles with the club.

In fact, it would not be wrong to say that Barcelona enjoyed the most fruitful period in their history after the arrival of Lionel Messi. With the diminutive Argentinian calling the shots in the attacking-third, the club lifted an unprecedented treble of Liga, Copa Del Rey and Champions League on multiple occasions (2008-09, 2014-15).

With 444 goals, Messi is the all-time La Liga top-scorer in the competition's history. As if that was not enough, the Barcelona captain also has more La Liga assists, hat-tricks and freekicks than any other player. His 115 goals in the Champions League is the most by any player in the competition for a single club.

At the peak of his powers, Messi scored a sizzling 73 goals in all competitions in 2011-12, which included a stunning haul of 50 La Liga goals in just 36 games.

Messi has won 10 La Liga titles and 35 titles in all competitions, all while playing for Barcelona.

However, with the Argentine expressing his desire to leave the club after Barcelona endured their first trophyless season in 12 years, one of the last true vestiges of the true one-club player may soon be a thing of the past.


#1 Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow) - 17 years and 8 months

Igor Akinfeev
Igor Akinfeev

CSKA Moscow custodian Igor Akinfeev beats Lionel Messi to the honour of having spent the longest spell at one club among active players. Since joining the club in 2002, Akinfeev has been at the club for nearly 18 years (17 years, 8 months as on September 2020).

The 34-year-old has made 641 appearances in all competitions for the Russian capital club, keeping an impressive tally of 276 clean sheets.

The six-time Russian league winner had his crowning moment in 2004-05 when CSKA beat Sporting CP to win the UEFA Cup (now called the UEFA Europa League).

Note: All stats correct as of September 4th, 2020

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Edited by Ashwin