They say that money can’t buy you happiness. And that is, to an extent, true. You can have all the best things in the world, but they are all materialistic goods that will rot away some day.
For some, however, materialism is what matters the most since all they do is speed after money and try to acquire as much as they can. In sports, especially football—a game where trillions of euros float around—we have witnessed some disgusting displays of greed that stunned almost everybody in the fraternity.
This isn’t much of a surprise in a world like this since all we are ever taught from a very young age is how money is the only thing in the world that matters.
Without digressing any further, here are 5 footballers who chose money over their career…
Note: Before we begin the slideshow, we would like to state the fact that every player on this list grew up in an environment of poverty in either South America or Africa. Hence, their decision to opt for money and secure the future of their children could be seen in a justified light.
Demba Ba
Many might have forgotten about his existence—I know I did—but he was a good footballer back in the day and perhaps still is.
He made his mark around the world of football during his time at Newcastle. In a mid-table team like that of Newcastle, he scored 16 goals in his debut season to help the Toons to a 5th place finish. It could have been even better for the Magpies had they not hit a slump at the business end of the season.
His second season began with even better performances as he scored 13 goals in only 22 appearances, before being sold to Chelsea in January to provide competition for the highly disappointing Fernando Torres.
He wasn’t as effective for Chelsea, however, as he scored only 14 goals in 51 appearances. To be fair to him, though, he was never given much of a chance in the new surroundings.
After this, he left the shores of England for the air of Turkey as he featured for Besiktas. In Turkey, he hit optimum form as he scored 27 goals in 44 games—making it his best season ever on an individual level.
At the peak of his powers, it seemed like a move back to the big leagues of Europe was on the cards. But he shocked everyone when he chose to sign for Shangai Shenhua, where he gets a net salary of 6 million euros per year.
He may have scored 12 goals in 16 games for the Chinese club, but the fact is his services could have been much more useful while playing for a Champions League-aspiring club.
Emmanuel Adebayor
A list like this without his name would be no list at all. No other player attracts the term ‘greedy’ like he does—just ask any Arsenal fan.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger saw huge potential in him when the then youngster was plying his trade at AS Monaco. Hence, he snapped him up and moulded him into one of the most feared strikers to grace the Premier League.
People might dislike him for his blatant approach towards money, but one can’t deny the ability he had as a player—especially when he cared. The striker was very quick for someone as tall as him and also had commendable ability with the ball at his feet.
His power inside the box was almost unparalleled too. It was these qualities that made him score 30 goals in 48 games across all competitions in 2007-08.
However, when the rich Arabs took over City and began the revolution, he quickly jumped ship for the Etihad stadium.
Many Arsenal players left for City, but (spoiler alert) no one else made this list because the others were more calculating than he was. Back then, Manchester City were a new club and were scattering money all around without a definite plan—and Adebayor chose to go with the gold.
His wages with City were a reported 175,000 pounds a week—which was more than double of what he was earning on his contract with Arsenal. Unfortunately for him, his performances also declined massively with City—and he ended up with 0 winners’ medal to his name.
In fact, he won just one trophy after leaving Arsenal—which was a Copa Del Rey medal with Real—failing to live up to the expectations that people had of him.
Radamel Falcao
FC Porto have this uncanny ability to pick up brilliant, yet relatively unknown South American forwards and mould them into goal-machines. One such player they worked on was Radamel Falcao.
At one point of time, he was the best striker in the world. His games-per-goal ratio constantly competed with that of Lionel Messi’s and Cristiano Ronaldo’s as he shredded many defenses like wheat.
In his two seasons at Porto, he scored 72 goals in 85 games and helped them to a minor treble (the one with Europa League instead of the Champions League) with his outstanding goal-scoring prowess.
He took his career to the next level when he signed for Atletico Madrid—another club known for having a fantastic history with South American strikers—who had recently hired a talented manager in Diego Simeone.
The fairytale continued for two more seasons, where he played 91 games to score 70 goals and helped Atletico Madrid become genuine challengers in La Liga. But then money came in and ruined it for him.
As the sudden-rich Monaco came calling with tons of money, Falcao left the Rojiblancos. Some say that it was a smokescreen move for the Colombian to join Real Madrid—the club that showed the most interest in him—the following season.
However, facts are facts. And the fact remains that a host of European giants wanted him, but he chose AS Monaco where he, according to Spanish media outlet AS, earned 16 million euros a year in net wages.
That move, however, was a cursed one. Now—two-and-a-half years later—he finds himself warming the bench of Chelsea and look like a Sunday Pub league player whenever he plays. In his post-Atleti time, he has played in 63 games and scored only 14 goals.
It must also be added that injuries were one of the biggest reasons for his failure, but perhaps in the familiar environment of Atleti’s, he might have recuperated better.
Jackson Martinez
He is another one of those South American stars that FC Porto brought to fame. Signed as a replacement for Radamel Falcao, he started taking the Portuguese league by storm with his outstanding displays week-in and week-out.
The Colombian was something of a similar player to his predecessor. Within the box, he was an unstoppable force. And his stats show just that.
In three seasons with Porto, he scored 92 goals in 132 games to become one of the most revered players in the world.
However, he followed a path similar to that of Falcao’s when he joined Atletico Madrid for 35 million euros. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t make a mark at the club like his fellow Colombian did as he scored only 3 goals in the 22 times he played for them.
The Rojiblancos weren’t ones to show patience with him as they decided to offload him this winter. The peculiar thing? He agreed to go to Guangzhou Evergrande despite not even being in his 30s.
The reason was simple: lots of money. He now earns 240,000 euros a week for playing in a league that is way below his level. With this move, he became the most expensive signing in the history of Chinese football, but that record was broken two days later by…
Alex Teixeira
After a whole year of being linked with Liverpool, he joined the Chinese League to the shock of many. In fact, his own Brazilian team-mate expressed his disappointment at Shakhtar Donetsk for not accepting Liverpool’s offer for his countrymen.
"They prefer to sell to small clubs that can afford a higher fee than selling them to traditional clubs that wouldn't pay the same amount of money," said Willian.
"That's the case for Teixeira, and it has also happened with me. I know myself how difficult it is to negotiate with Shakhtar Donetsk. I suffered for two years there willing to leave the club."
Willian might be upset at Shakhtar, but the fact remains that if Texeira wanted to keep his Brazil chances high, he could have played out his contract with the Ukranian club.
However, things are not as simple as it is being opined here. Hence, we will just keep this one on a professional level.
What can’t be hidden, however, is the fact that seeing a player of his caliber play in a league that won’t challenge him to become a better player is a depressing sight in itself. His current club, Jiangsu Suning paid a Chinese record fee of 50 million Euros for his services, beating Liverpool’s offer by a mile.
He now plies his trade in China while pocketing 192,000 Euros a week, which almost surely covers all of his post-retirement plans.
