'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
#3 Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United (2018)
After a successful spell at Arsenal, Alexis Sanchez arrived at Manchester United in January 2018 with much fanfare.
However, the Chilean striker had a torrid time at the club. He apparently left behind his scoring boots in London and looked like a pale shadow of the player who lit up the Emirates Stadium with his energetic displays.
Sanchez conjured a meagre five goals and nine assists in 45 games in all competitions as he struggled to adjust to his new surroundings. The player's gargantuan wages did not endear himself to the Old Trafford faithful as it was perceived that Sanchez was not giving his all on the pitch despite earning the big bucks.
The strained relationship between the football club and the beleaguered player ended after the 2018-19 campaign, with Sanchez joining Inter Milan on loan for the season before the move became permanent this summer.
Nevertheless, for Sanchez, from being Arsenal's Player of the Year to being an outcast at Old Trafford in the space of 18 months was quite the fall.
#2 Samuel Eto'o to Anzhi Makhachkala (2011)
Samuel Eto'o had the world at his feet when he played alongside the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez under the tutelage of a certain Pep Guardiola at an all-conquering FC Barcelona.
The Cameroon striker easily enjoyed the most prolific spell of his career at Camp Nou, scoring a plethora of goals and winning titles galore - which included the continental treble in 2009.
Eto'o then moved to Italy where he won another treble, this time with Inter Milan, in the process becoming the only player to do so in consecutive seasons for two different clubs.
However, in the summer of 2011, the former Barcelona man inexplicably decided to leave Italian shores and landed at the little-known Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, which made him the world's best-paid player. The Cameroonian earned a reported €10 million per year at Anzhi.
He scored 36 goals in 73 appearances for the ambitious Dagestan-based club but did not stay there for too long as a drastic cut in the club's budget forced a mass exodus of star players, including Eto'o, at the end of the 2012-13 season.
To this day, Eto'o's move to Anzhi Makhachkala remains one of the most baffling transfers in football history.
#1 Bebe to Manchester United (2011)
Football transfers rarely come more bizarre than the one of little-known Bebe from Vitoria de Guimaraes, a modest club in Portugal, to Manchester United, one of the giants of the game.
Interestingly, the then 20-year-old winger arrived at Old Trafford after Sir Alex Ferguson made the only 'blind' signing of his career in 2011. The legendary Scottish manager apparently took Bebe on the recommendation of his former assistant Carlos Queiroz.
In a classic rags-to-riches story, Bebe, who grew up in a homeless shelter, went from an overnight €300/week to a £17,000/week player, with the English football club dishing out a staggering €500,000 for the services of a completely unknown entity.
Unsurprisingly, the Cinderella story unravelled pretty quickly. Bebe failed to start a game for Manchester United despite scoring twice in seven matches.
Almost a decade after his Old Trafford adventure, the winger currently plies his trade at Spanish second division football club Rayo Vallecano.
