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Player transfers are the bread and butter of club football and yet, they can often be shocking and full of controversies.
A transfer can turn a player from a 'Hero' to a 'Traitor' overnight. There are quite a few instances where the fans became so furious with the player concerned, that they termed him as 'Judas'.
Transfers season can be exhilarating and frustrating in equal measure. The rumors, daily updates regarding the offers made for a player and the tense atmosphere among the fans makes it really exciting.
These days transfers almost never happen without prior hints and rumors, as the media covers every single move made by clubs.
Inspite of that, a few transfers have taken place that has shocked the public.
Nobody expected those deals to be finalized as they were simply treated as rumors in the initial days. However, those moves did happen and stunned everyone.
Here are '5 transfers which shocked the entire football world'.
#5 Julien Faubert (West Ham United to Real Madrid) - Loan Move
Julien Faubert joined Real Madrid on a loan deal from West Ham United for a reported fee of £1.5m for the 2008-09 season. Real also had an option to buy him permanently for an undisclosed fee.
Faubert was poor for West Ham in the previous season and nobody had any clue that why a club of Real Madrid's stature will sign a right-winger who had done nothing significant in 18 months in the Premier League.
He made just 8 appearances in his first season for West Ham due to injuries. His appearance count increased in the next season to 24 but he failed to score a single goal in these 32 Premier League matches
Real Madrid's then coach, Juande Ramos was looking for a right-winger and Wigan's Antonio Valencia was his first choice.
However, negotiations broke down as Real was not ready to pay the £35 million quoted by Wigan. Finally, Ramos ended up signing Faubert on a loan deal.
His stay at the Bernabeu lasted only for a season. Faubert made just two appearances for Los Blancos and played a total of 54 minutes for the entire season.
However, he will always be remembered for falling asleep on the bench during a match against Villarreal!
#4 Fernando Torres (Liverpool to Chelsea) £50 million
Fernando Torres joined Liverpool in the year 2007. His career at Anfield lasted for four magnificent seasons. He played well for The Reds scoring 65 times in just 102 appearances. After such great performances, he became a fan's favourite during his time at the club.
However, 'Traitor' is the word that comes to Liverpool fans' minds when they think of Torres. Behind this drastic change was a transfer deal which saw Torres joining Liverpool's rivals, Chelsea.
He was really desperate for the move, as he submitted an official transfer request after Liverpool had rejected Chelsea's first bid for the Spanish striker. The transfer was finally completed on deadline day of the summer transfer window of 2011 for a reported fee of £50m.
Later on, Torres explained his reason behind this move. He said that he wanted success and it wasn't possible for him to wait as he was already twenty-seven years old.
He even claimed that Liverpool proceeded with the negotiations in a way that portrayed him as 'the guilty one'.
#3 Roberto Baggio (Fiorentina to Juventus) £8 million
Roberto Baggio is one of Fiorentina's greatest players of all time. During his five seasons in Fiorentina colours, he stole the hearts of Viola fans with his crafty dribbling and goal scoring abilities.
He suffered a career-threatening knee injury shortly after his debut which kept him sidelined for 8 months and made him miss most of the first season.
While at Florence, he played more as a creator rather than a classic goal-scorer but still succeeded in scoring a lot of goals. He was brilliant for the team in the next few seasons and was loved and adored by the fans.
In the 1989-90 season, Fiorentina was struggling and fighting against relegation in Serie A, but Baggio led the team to the final of the UEFA Cup.
Fiorentina faced their arch-rivals Juventus in the finals, Juventus won 3-1 on aggregate.
However, this was not the end of heartache for Fiorentina fans as just after a few days, the club announced that they had decided to sell Baggio to Juventus. The transfer fee was reported to be around £8m which was a record amount then.
Following the announcement, there were series of riots on the streets of Florence and Fiorentina's president was forced to take refuge, such was the rage of the supporters.
Baggio later said in an interview that he was forced to accept the transfer and it was completely the club's decision to sell him. However, this explanation was not enough to convince the annoyed fans who felt betrayed.
#2 Luis Figo (Barcelona to Real Madrid) $60.1 million
This transfer made turned Luis Figo from a hero in the eyes of the Barcelona fans to the biggest traitor ever.
It was the summer of 2000 and at that time, Figo was the main star of the Catalan side.
He had helped Barcelona win successive La Liga titles, a couple of Copa Del Reys and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.
The drama started with a pre-contract agreement between Luis Figo and Real president Florentino Perez which included a £23m penalty if Figo failed to join Los Merengues.
When rumors came out regarding Figo's move to the Santiago Bernabeu, he assured the Barca fans by saying "I want to reassure fans that Luis Figo, with all the certainty in the world, will be at the Nou Camp on July 24 to start the season."
However, the player failed to keep his promise. Instead of starting the season for Barcelona on July 24, he was unveiled as Real's new no.10 on the same date for a then world-record fee.
The Cules still hate Figo for this move and were so angry with him that bottles, coins, and even a pig's head were thrown at him when Real Madrid came to play El Clasico at the Camp Nou. This transfer can surely be named "The Most Controversial Transfer Of All Time".
#1 Neymar (Barcelona to PSG) - £222 million
When Neymar arrived at the Camp Nou in 2013, he was seen as the natural heir to Lionel Messi.
He mesmerized the Barca fans with his insane skills, brilliant runs and a telepathic connection with Messi and Luis Suarez. He will always be remembered as one-third of one of the best-attacking trident in the history of football - the MSN.
He was an integral part of the Barca team which won the treble in 2015. He won a couple of La Liga titles and three Copa Del Rey titles in the four seasons wearing a Barcelona shirt. However, the fairy tale didn't last long.
When the rumors came out regarding Neymar's move to PSG, no one believed it.
Nobody believed that PSG will be able to pay the sum of £222m to trigger the release clause of the Brazilian forward. There were no words from Neymar regarding the rumor and he happily played for Barcelona on the pre-season tour.
Just after the pre-season tour, rumors claimed Neymar has informed the club officials and his teammates about his decision to leave Barcelona.
This news came as a sudden shock for all Barca fans all over the world. Soon, an official confirmation from the club put an end to all doubts as the news was confirmed that Neymar was leaving.
This move made Neymar the most expensive transfer of all time leaving behind Paul Pogba by a margin of more than £100m.
