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The transfer window is firmly closed, we’re into the pivotal point of the season with leagues, tournaments and cups on the line, VAR is causing controversy all over the place and the World Cup is on the horizon, and yet which stories are still dominating the headlines? Transfer rumours of course.
Like it or hate it, nobody can deny the importance of transfers in modern day football – not only do they play a huge part in teams being strengthened or weakened, but the big money involved helps to fill the pockets of agents as well as to sell newspapers and garner clicks on football news sites.
Unsurprisingly then, some of the most memorable quotes in football have been on the subject of transfers, whether they’ve come from angry managers, disgruntled or ecstatic players, or indeed, agents representing their players. Here are ten of the most memorable.
#1 John Gregory on Dwight Yorke’s transfer to Manchester United, 1998
“If I’d had a gun, I would’ve shot him”
We go all the way back to 1998 for this classic. Aston Villa striker Dwight Yorke had been linked with a move to Manchester United for months going into the 1998/99 season, with United boss Alex Ferguson openly stating his admiration for the Trinidadian star. But Villa boss John Gregory didn’t want to sell for anything less than either a huge fee or a star like David Beckham in exchange.
That clearly wasn’t going to happen and unfortunately for Gregory, “player power” reared its ugly head when Yorke refused to sign a new contract at Villa and decided to beg Gregory and the club’s chairman Doug Ellis to allow him to move. Eventually, a £12.6m fee was decided on and Yorke was on his way to Old Trafford.
When asked about his meeting with Yorke, Gregory uttered a truly incredible quote – “A couple of weeks ago Dwight openly stated to me that he wanted to play for Manchester United and not Aston Villa. That really hurt me, and if I had had a gun I would have shot him.”
It hardly kept things in perspective, but it showed just how much Gregory cared about the future of his beloved Villa, and remains one of the wildest transfer-related quotes in football history.
#2 Aidy Ward on Raheem Sterling wanting to move away from Liverpool, 2015
It was the most controversial transfer saga of the summer of 2015. Raheem Sterling had broken through at Liverpool as a superstar in the making, and after a tremendous 2013/14 season, he’d even become one of England’s starters in that summer’s World Cup. By 2015, though, things had gone sour for him at Anfield.
Quite what caused the issue remains largely unknown, but it appeared to stem from Sterling making contract demands that Liverpool weren’t willing to meet. By February 2015 word was coming from the club that contract talks with the player had stalled, and after some back-and-forth, Sterling’s agent Aidy Ward made the youngster’s position painfully clear with a comical quote.
“I don't care about the PR of the club and the club situation. He is definitely not signing. He's not signing for £700, £800, £900 thousand a week” were the exact words of Ward’s rant, but if he was hoping to show the fans that it wasn’t all about the money for Sterling then he was badly mistaken.
The Liverpool fans quickly turned on Sterling, calling him a “money grabber” and a “snake”, and two months later he was off to Manchester City for an initial fee of £44m. It was one of the nastiest transfer sagas in recent memory – with the ever-quotable Ward also labelling former Liverpool star Jamie Carragher “a knob” in another comical rant.
#3 Darren Bent on wanting to move from Tottenham to Sunderland, 2009
“Do I wanna go Hull City NO. Do I wanna go Stoke NO. Do I wanna go Sunderland YES so stop f***ing around Levy”
In the summer of 2009, Tottenham striker Darren Bent wanted out of White Hart Lane, but he was very specific on exactly where he wanted to go, to the point where he decided a foul-mouthed Twitter rant against Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was the way forward.
Bent had been signed for a club-record £16.5m by Juande Ramos in the summer of 2007, but despite finishing 2008/09 as Tottenham’s top scorer, new manager Harry Redknapp clearly didn’t rate him as highly as his predecessor. And so in July 2009, Sunderland opened negotiations with Spurs to sign the player.
The snag was that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy didn’t want to lose money on the striker, but Sunderland didn’t want to spend more than £15m. So Levy apparently offered Bent to Hull and Stoke instead, triggering the player’s wild rant on Twitter.
Cooler heads eventually prevailed, as Bent closed down the Twitter account before apologising, saying that he’d acted out of frustration. And after agreeing a fee – an initial £10m rising eventually to £16.5m – he was on his way to the Stadium of Light, with both parties eventually having gotten exactly what they wanted.
#4 Robinho on his shock move from Real Madrid to Manchester City, 2008
“Chelsea? No, Manchester, sorry!”
Brazilian winger Robinho was hot property back in the summer of 2008, as he’d been tearing things up in La Liga for Real Madrid, but found himself unhappy at the Santiago Bernabeu and supposedly even broke down in tears in front of Real’s club president in order to try to force a move away from the Spanish giants.
Chelsea were the most interested party, had the money to spend, and a deal was expected to be reached in time for that summer’s deadline day. Robinho even headed to Stamford Bridge for contract talks. But newly-minted with billions following their takeover by the Abu Dhabi group, Manchester City swooped in from nowhere with a £32.5m bid.
Chelsea weren’t willing to match such a huge fee and so the winger was off to Manchester, not London – except apparently, nobody had told Robinho this. During the press conference to announce his signing, Robinho stated, “on the last day of transfers, Chelsea made a good offer for me personally, and good for Real Madrid, and it was accepted” before someone quickly pointed out his mistake.
“Chelsea? No, Manchester, sorry!” was his follow-up, quickly correcting his gaffe – which must’ve been hugely embarrassing for City, who were already being viewed with suspicion due to the money they were willing to throw around. Robinho’s mistake almost summed the insanity of the whole situation up.
#5 Robbie Savage on the stresses of the transfer window
“I sat there by the phone for 13 days, worrying, waiting for it to go through - I lost a stone”
The fans might love a good transfer saga and naturally, so do the media, as they allow for far more newspapers to be sold and online stories to be clicked on. But is that the same for the players who are involved in the potential moves that have everyone talking? If you ask former Wales midfielder Robbie Savage, the answer would probably be no.
When asked about the stresses of Transfer Deadline Day in particular on an August 2011 edition of Football Focus, Savage – by then a television pundit who was approaching his retirement from the game – discussed his January 2005 move from Birmingham City to Blackburn Rovers – a move which went through shortly before deadline day.
The transfer was hardly preceded by a long saga – Savage’s form for Birmingham had dipped, he’d seen the fans largely turn on him, and he wished to link up with his former Wales boss Mark Hughes at Blackburn. Birmingham had turned down an initial bid, but for the most part the move went through smoothly.
In Savage’s mind, though, evidently, things weren’t going quite as smoothly as they seemed. His quote – from six years after the event – shows the toll that even a relatively simple transfer saga can take on a player, and leaves you wondering if it’s all worth it in the end.
#6 Zlatan Ibrahimovic on his aborted move to Arsenal, 2000
“Zlatan doesn’t do auditions”
As one of the most outspoken players in football history, it’s no surprise that Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic would have uttered a memorable quote relating to a transfer. After all, he’s made some huge moves in his career – moving around clubs like Barcelona, Inter Milan, Paris St. Germain and Juventus, usually for massive fees.
His best quote though still relates to his aborted move to Arsenal back in 2000. At that point, the 19-year old Ibrahimovic was largely unknown on the world scene but was garnering a reputation as an exciting prospect at Swedish club Malmo. Arsene Wenger was evidently impressed with what he’d seen of him and invited him to North London to discuss a move.
Unfortunately for Wenger, he probably didn’t expect such self-confidence from the teenager. When asked about the incident in 2012, Ibrahimovic explained, “He never actually made me a serious offer, it was more, 'I want to see how good you are, what kind of player you are. Have a trial'. I couldn't believe it. I was like, 'No way, Zlatan doesn't do auditions”.
It was a classic quote from the future superstar that’s now gone down in legend as a way of proving just how confident in his own skills Ibrahimovic is – and always has been. In the end, the Arsenal move went by-the-by, Zlatan went to Ajax instead and the rest is history.
#7 Jose Mourinho on Chelsea gazumping Tottenham’s deal to sign Willian, 2013
“The best thing you can do is do the medical in secret”
In the summer of 2013, Chelsea were no strangers to transfer hijacks, having seen Manchester City steal Robinho from under their noses some five years prior. And so when it was announced that Brazilian winger Willian had undergone a medical at White Hart Lane for a proposed move from Anzhi Makhachkala to Tottenham, they moved very quickly.
Just two days after said medical, Willian was on his way to Stamford Bridge in a move worth around £32.5m. The key to his signing was said to have been the links between Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich and Anzhi’s owner Suleyman Kerimov, a fellow oligarch, but Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho couldn’t resist in rubbing some salt into Tottenham’s wounds.
“That’s the danger of medicals before contracts”, said Mourinho, “the best thing you can do is to do the medical in secret”. Tottenham’s chairman Daniel Levy was already said to be furious with the situation, but no doubt Mourinho’s sharp tongue made matters even worse.
Still, it was likely a valuable lesson for Tottenham, and they haven’t been as quick to announce a potential deal prior to the player being signed and sealed since.
#8 Joan Gaspart on Luis Figo’s 2000 move to Real Madrid, 2017
“Figo was a coward who betrayed us”
In the summer of 2000, Luis Figo made one of the most infamous transfers in football history when he left Barcelona to sign with their hated rivals Real Madrid for a then-world record fee of £37m. Barca fans never forgave the Portuguese midfielder – throwing objects such as a pig’s head at him when he returned to play for Real at the Nou Camp.
Evidently, Barcelona’s former president Joan Gaspart – who was vice-president at the time of the move – still hasn’t forgiven the player some 17 years on. When asked about Neymar’s 2017 move from Barca to Paris St. Germain – for a new world record fee of £200m – Gaspart managed to throw both players under the bus in one fell swoop.
“Figo left with treachery and with no time to renew the team,” Gaspart said. “He was a coward who betrayed us. Neymar went for the money, full stop.”
Essentially, despite being labelled a money-grabber for the want of a better term, the Brazilian striker was still being compared favourably to Figo, who simply made an unthinkable move and will likely remain despised in Barcelona for years to come. Gaspart’s quote likely summed up the feelings of all Barca fans.
#9 Saido Berahino on his aborted move, 2015
“I can officially say I will never play for Jeremy Peace”
After scoring 14 Premier League goals for West Brom in the 2014/15 season, young striker Saido Berahino was considered hot property and a move away from the Hawthorns seemed likely to happen that summer. Tottenham were apparently the most interested party, and in August 2015 they made a £15m bid that was promptly rejected by the Baggies.
That didn’t sit too well with Berahino, who kicked up enough of a stink that manager Tony Pulis was forced to drop him from the first-team squad. With deadline day looming, Berahino put in a transfer request, but the club rejected that, as well as another bid from Tottenham. And so like Darren Bent before him, Berahino took to Twitter to vent his anger.
“Sad how I can’t say exactly how the club has treated me but I can officially say I will never play (for) Jeremy Peace” was the exact quote, a rant aimed solely at West Brom’s chairman. For their part the Baggies were equally furious – Peace due to the rant and manager Tony Pulis because he was now stuck with an unsettled player and no funds to replace him.
Despite the situation looking inconsolable, just a week later Pulis announced that everything was fine and Berahino was back in training. 6 months or so later, Berahino admitted he’d made a mistake with his rant, crediting Pulis with helping him to “take a look at his life”.
He eventually left West Brom in January 2017, but this time his move didn’t cause so much controversy – and was nowhere near as quotable.
#10 Jose Mourinho on Man City’s reaction to Man United’s signing of Alexis Sanchez, 2018
“When you see the tree with amazing oranges at the top and cannot get there. You say: Oh, I got the lower ones because I don't like the ones at the top”
There aren’t many people in football who could get away with comparing a top player like Alexis Sanchez to an orange, but that’s exactly what Jose Mourinho did after signing him for Manchester United in January 2018. The Portuguese boss used an odd metaphor to taunt Manchester City’s reaction at missing out on the player.
Reportedly, City decided to withdraw their interest in Sanchez, feeling both his transfer fee and wage demands were too expensive, but Mourinho felt this was just sour grapes, and explained his thoughts with this metaphor:
“When you see the tree with amazing oranges at the top and cannot get there. You say: 'Oh, I got the lower ones because I don't like the ones at the top. You like the ones at the top. They are so nice, so orange, so round, so full of juice but you cannot get there so you say: 'I don't want to go there' or 'I didn't like it, I prefer the other ones.' It reminds me of that story.”
Just in case anyone didn’t quite get the metaphor, he went on to say “I know that if other clubs did not get him it's not a problem of money, for sure. That's not a problem of money.” It was a classic Mourinho jab – using one of the oddest and most memorable transfer-related quotes in recent memory.
