The top TEN Football Transfer Sagas

Every year there are hundreds of rumours in regards to transfers that may or not happen which seem to last for weeks. Each window there is a transfer saga that most of the footbal world gets absolutely sick of and just wants the player in question to just leave and be done with it!

Here are ten of the Premier League transfer sagas which have most interested me. Think I’ve missed out some transfer sagas that just dragged on and on and on? Let me know in the comments section after you’ve taken a look at the top ten…

John Obi Mikel, Manchester United to Chelsea (2006)

Mikel wore a United shirt a press conference, saying he was “delighted with United move”. A week later, with involvement of Chelsea, he stated he no longer wanted to join United and that he had been “forced into signing a contract” against his will. After death threats and disappearances he eventually did move to Chelsea, who paid Manchester United £16m to settle the fiasco.

Andrey Arshavin, Zenit St. Petersburg to Arsenal (2009)

It was 2 February and transfer deadline day. Andrei Arshavin been linked with a move to Arsenal, amongst others, for what seemed like years, but was actually just many months. With, reportedly, only an hour left on the transfer window clock, Arsenal finally made an offer that Zenit were willing to accept. Although he had agreed personal and medical terms there were still negations regarding extra fees to be resolved. Amazingly, poor weather conditions led the Premier League to extend the deadline beyond 5pm. This gave arsenal the time they needed to complete the move. The deal was not confirmed until the following day nearly 24 hours after the formal transfer deadline had passed.

Rafael Van der Vaart, Real Madrid to Tottenham (2010)

On the final day of the transfer window at 4pm Tottenham signed Van Der Vaart, seemingly out of thin air. Redknapp said: “I thought he was going to Bayern Munich for about £18m and suddenly he became an awful lot cheaper and the chairman came to me and said: ‘Look, he’s available for around about £8m.’” Spurs managed to secure their bargain in the same window as Manchester United spent £7m on Bebé an unknown quantity. This season Van Der Vaart has scored 9 league goals, while Bebé has not scored any.

Continue to the NEXT PAGE…