6 of the most craziest off-the-pitch incidents from this transfer window

#5 Kick-ups that went down

Well, when you throw tens and hundreds of millions to secure the services of professional footballers, you'd expect them to be able to at least kick up the ball without a hitch. But instead, some of them botched their unveilings and kicked up a fuss.

When you arrive with a hefty price tag, the world will motivate you to build those shoulder muscles lest they crumble under the pressure that is lavishly served.

First, it was Theo Hernandez.

And then Paulinho, who we all remember being sh*te at Tottenham, was brought in by Barcelona to bolster their midfield ranks. Fans had already deemed it to be quite underwhelming but more facepalms were in the offing.

And then it was the world's second most expensive signing Ousmane Dembele's turn.

All these were closed unveilings and fortunately for these lads, they were spared the collective gasps and sighs of their fans. And their sole purpose was to put on a show for the cameras. Well, they did, albeit, in unconventional fashion.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Souvik Roy Chowdhury