Transfer Hijacks That Ended Horribly: Hijacking a transfer from a rival club is always fun. When it happens, it feels like you’ve dunked on your enemy, but you need to hope and pray that that player turns up big time, if not you’d end up looking like the biggest clown.
Transfer Hijacks That Ended Horribly
Today, we’re taking a trip into the circus to look at some of these clowns. These are 8 transfer hijacks that ended horribly.
1. Mykhailo Mudryk
Who better to start this video with than Mykhailo Mudryk?
This guy was so close to joining Arsenal in January 2023 and it looked like it was all but done until Chelsea came into the picture and hijacked the entire deal.
Shop quality jerseys at Goal90.shop
It felt like a sweet victory for the Blues when they snatched a player their city rivals wanted so badly and chased for so long, but a year later, it’s not looking so sweet for them as Mudryk has failed to live up to expectations at Stamford Bridge. He has managed just 5 goal contributions in his 30 Premier League appearances since he joined last season, meanwhile Leandro Trossard has had 4 goal contributions this season alone.
2. Romeo Lavia
Chelsea also hijacked Romeo Lavia from Liverpool in the summer, and there’s not much to say about that except that Lavia has still not played a single game for Chelsea while the guys Liverpool decided to go for – Gravenberch and Endo – have played, performed, and even scored for the Reds.
Perhaps Chelsea need to just stop hijacking transfers from their rivals. But they’ve not always only been on the receiving end or horrible transfer hijacks, you know.
3. Robinho
You guys remember the Robinho move, don’t you? Man City hijacked him from Chelsea and ended up regretting every bit of it.
Robinho was so close to moving to London. He had said he wanted to join Chelsea, Madrid had given their go-ahead, and Chelsea said they were confident they’d sign the Brazilian. But on the last day of the 2008 summer transfer window, Man City was taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group and they immediately hijacked the Robinho deal.
That hijack was so crazy that, after signing with Man City, Robinho said “on the last day Chelsea made a great proposal and I accepted.” Even he didn’t think that he’d be moving anywhere else apart from Chelsea that summer.
Anyway, he ended up being something of a flop, no thanks to the long-term injury he sustained in his second season at the club. In 2010, he returned to Brazil to join Santos, and we’re pretty sure Chelsea were thankful they didn’t get him.
4. Cristiano Ronaldo
The Rumors that CR7 was on his way to the blue half of Manchester were everywhere that summer, so Sir Alex Ferguson made a call, and the Portuguese ended up moving back home to Old Trafford.
Well, Ronaldo’s second stint in England ended up being not-so-great, so you could say that the hijack ended horribly. And City would be even more grateful that United hijacked Ronaldo because, if not, they probably would not have signed Erling Haaland who helped them win the Champions League and the European treble in 2023.
5. Alexis Sanchez
City wanted to sign Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal in 2018, but the Red Devils came in, snatched the Chilean, set him up in front of the piano, and ended up facing the music.
Sanchez was a flop at United; something of a misfit, and his career did not survive it at all. And considering the insane amount United paid him in wages, they definitely wish they had just left him to join the noisy neighbors.
6. Gigi Wijnaldum
Let’s now cross over to La Liga. Barcelona were reportedly close to signing Gigi Wijnaldum from Liverpool in 2021, but he ended up moving to PSG because they offered him twice the wages the Catalan club was offering.
Well, Barcelona ended up not minding because the Dutchman turned out to be a not-so-good signing for PSG. Because of his unimpressive performances in France, he had to leave the club after just one season, and now he’s playing in Saudi Arabia.
7. Malcolm
Barcelona surely weren’t happy that they hijacked Malcolm from AS Roma. The Brazilian was so close to joining AS Roma in 2018 that the fans were literally waiting for him at the airport, but Barcelona came in and redirected his flight.
Well, after just one year, Barcelona sold him to Zenit Saint Petersburg. Safe to say the hijack ended horribly.
8. Arda Guler
To wrap up this list, we have Arda Guler who Real Madrid snatched from Barcelona in the summer of 2023. This is a young Turkish star endorsed by Mesut Ozil himself, so everybody thought he’d be an instant hit in Spain. Barcelona monitored him for some time but it was their fiercest rivals who ended up signing him.
Well, Madrid might be regretting that hijack right now because, 5 months after signing him, the teenager has still not featured in a single game for the club, and at this point, it’s certain that he still won’t feature until 2024.
Are there more transfer hijacks you know of that ended horribly?
Let us know in the comments.
