Change the fate of a club by swapping a transfer

Skills · Feb 19, 2021

Lets get all hypothetical. Rule:

1. Swap a transfer a club made for another player that moved in the same calendar year, for the same price or less.

Barcelona 2018: Sign Virgil Van Djik instead of Philip Coutinho - probably win another CL title with their defence not falling apart multiple times in the knockout stages (Roma 2018, Liverpool 2019). At the same time, Liverpool probably don't win a CL and PL title.

WakeAndBeek · Feb 19, 2021

Shearer agrees to join Man Utd, meaning they never end up signing their plan b, a certain Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

It’s impossible to ever know how this will have turned out, we may in fact have been even more successful, but one thing is for sure, the dramatic events of the last few minutes of the 1999 Champions League final would not have panned out the same.

We would in all likelihood have a different manager right now, too, as despite being a fan of the job he’s done so far, it’s hard to deny that nostalgia and sentimentality played a part in his hiring.

2cents · Feb 19, 2021

I’ll be a bit cheeky and swap two - instead of signing Owen and Valencia in 2009, we sign Robben and Sneijder. As a result we end up with at least seven league titles in a row (2007-2013) and at least one more CL victory (probably 2010).

(edit) sorry, just saw they should be around the same price. Still though, it was very much within the realm of possibility.

NoneBmStore · Feb 19, 2021

instead of signing Ronaldo we sign an ageing Dean Windass, who after half a season goes on loan to Preston and then fades into obscurity.

galwayfa · Feb 19, 2021

Instead of signing Rooney we sign Dean Ashton

TrustInOle · Feb 19, 2021

Arsenal, instead of signing Reyes, they signed Ronaldo...... :nervous:

SilentWitness · Feb 19, 2021

2004. Chelsea sign Rooney. United sign Drogba.

Falcow · Feb 19, 2021

We signed De Bryune instead of Di Maria, same price and around same time I think.

Bastian · Feb 19, 2021

In 2011 when we signed Young and Jones for a combined 40m euros, Zlatan and Cavani went to Milan and Napoli for less money combined...

Oranges038 · Feb 19, 2021

Roy Keane goes to Blackburn.

Man Utd sign David Batty.

The 90s turns out to be a baron spell for Man Utd.

Mindhunter · Feb 19, 2021

I can do better i.e., change the fate of multiple clubs. Porto signing <random bloke> as Portuguese translator instead of Jose Mourinho.

Sylar · Feb 19, 2021

United don't sign Cantona. Instead sign... Hirst?

BeforeKeanetherewasRobson · Feb 19, 2021

Sylar said:
United don't sign Cantona. Instead sign... Hirst?

Just about to type this.

So near and yet so far. Thank feck

sillwuka · Feb 19, 2021

Instead of signing Bruno, we sign Eriksen. Unable to replicate his early Spurs form we are without a talisman.

Meanwhile, Spurs are the top of the league and Bruno and Bale are working like magic.

Fingeredmouse · Feb 19, 2021

Oranges038 said:
Roy Keane goes to Blackburn.

Man Utd sign David Batty.

The 90s turns out to be a baron spell for Man Utd.

Yes, we'd have ruled over our fiefdom.

DoneDaDa · Feb 20, 2021

If Bayern signed KdB back in 2015, they'd probably won another CL/Treble this was actually a possiblity and I wouldn't have to see KdB in a City shirt.

MrMarcello · Feb 20, 2021

TrustInOle said:
Arsenal, instead of signing Reyes, they signed Ronaldo......

They're months apart. They signed Reyes in January not over Ronaldo, though I suppose I get where you're going.

MrMarcello · Feb 20, 2021

SAF had signed Senna in 2006 instead of chasing Hargreaves to the end of the summer transfer window only to not get him.

Scholes-Carrick-Senna would have been phenomenal from 2006-2012.

Pow · Feb 20, 2021

2011 january transfer window
the reported double swoop for atleticos godin and aguero goes through
instead of then getting torres and luiz

Yagami · Feb 20, 2021

2011.

City sign Jones and Young.

We sign Nasri and Aguero.

ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg · Feb 20, 2021

Brian Kidd wanted to United to sign John Hartson instead of Dwight Yorke.

we can all see how disastrous that would have been. No treble.

BlackShark_80 · Feb 20, 2021

Chelsea sign Aguero instead of Torres, would probably won more titles.

Ish · Feb 20, 2021

sillwuka said:
Instead of signing Bruno, we sign Eriksen. Unable to replicate his early Spurs form we are without a talisman.

Meanwhile, Spurs are the top of the league and Bruno and Bale are working like magic.

You had me hooked until the Bale bit.

Cloud7 · Feb 20, 2021

If we sign Ronaldinho and he doesn’t go to Barca, I don’t think they win that 2006 CL or go through the period of success they did during that time, and who knows if the Pep Barcelona team ends up happening after that.

GhastlyHun · Feb 20, 2021

2008. Instead of bringing in Jürgen Klinsmann as head coach, we take the other Jürgen from Mainz, not only preventing the disaster that was Klinsmann's time at Bayern, but also Dortmund's 2011 and 2012 league wins. Maybe even Pool's 2019 CL and 2020 premier league, at that.

Bwuk · Feb 20, 2021

Dread to think where we’d be if we hadn’t signed Bruno.

ROFLUTION · Feb 20, 2021

MrMarcello said:
SAF had signed Senna in 2006 instead of chasing Hargreaves to the end of the summer transfer window only to not get him.

Scholes-Carrick-Senna would have been phenomenal from 2006-2012.

Hargreaves gave us a perfect free kick against Arsenal securing the title (2-1) and went on to play a good game in the CL final.

Senna however faded. Senna was very overrated and limited if you ask me - a cleaner we did not need, and a level below Carrick/Scholes - we had a better one for the job already in Fletcher and Sennas defensive awareness in Carrick who was very clever defensively. Hargreaves could do more things than Senna albeit being injured.

roonster09 · Feb 20, 2021

Roman taking over some other random club instead of Chelsea and Sheik taking over some other random club instead of City.

Not sure if any other takeovers happened in that year, if so swap with that.

Edit: it's a player transfer. Aguero to us and Phil Jones to City.
Vidal to us and Young to Juventus.

RashyForPM · Feb 20, 2021

United sign Mbappe in 2017, PSG sign Lukaku. Don’t know about the previous 3 years because those two who shall not be named have romped the league, but we’d be 10 points clear this year, won the EL last year, won the CL in 2019 instead of Pool and the team most likely to sweep everything up to 2025, as Rashford-Mbappe-Greenwood become a 100 goal a season trio, backed up by Cavani.

JinnerJamie · Feb 20, 2021

Benzema over Owen
Varane over Jones
Hazard over Young

Bocca9978 · Feb 20, 2021

We didn’t sign Cantona...
Can’t remember who we were linked with at the time.

ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg · Feb 20, 2021

Bocca9978 said:
We didn’t sign Cantona...
Can’t remember who we were linked with at the time.

One of the reasons we bought Cantona was because Dion Dublin got injured! Love Dion, but thanks for taking one for the team.

was David Hurst at that time, or a bit later, think it might have been later as he was quoted at about £4m.

edit.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hirst_(footballer)
Says we tried to buy him a fee times.

most importantly in this context, we had a £3m bid rejected and went and bought Eric.

Kajus · Feb 20, 2021

Van Dijk instead of Lukaku first springs to mind?

Bocca9978 · Feb 20, 2021

ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
One of the reasons we bought Cantona was because Dion Dublin got injured! Love Dion, but thanks for taking one for the team.

was David Hurst at that time, or a bit later, think it might have been later as he was quoted at about £4m.

edit.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hirst_(footballer)
Says we tried to buy him a fee times.

most importantly in this context, we had a £3m bid rejected and went and bought Eric.

Cheers. An amazing course of events.
I loved Dion too. A shame about his injury.

Needham · Feb 20, 2021

Messi went to City so Haaland came to Utd. Or the other way round. Then Chelsea won the league anyway.

Robbie Boy · Feb 20, 2021

Leicester never sign Vardy from Fleetwood and sign some clogger instead.

100 · Feb 20, 2021

For most recent a fast CB or passing DM instead of VDB, but i can't think of too many that moved this year. Partey?

Either we're able to play a higher line, or negate the deficiencies of Fred and McTominay. Be good for about 5-10 points and less of a struggle in the big games

JSArsenal · Feb 20, 2021

Wenger signs literally anyone besides Cech.

Sandikan · Feb 20, 2021

Kajus said:
Van Dijk instead of Lukaku first springs to mind?

Not sure we'd have fared much better with him up front in fairness.

Cloud7 · Feb 20, 2021

Robbie Boy said:
Leicester never sign Vardy from Fleetwood and sign some clogger instead.

This is a pretty big one I think. Might not even have still been in the PL were it not for him.

Change the fate of a club by swapping a transfer

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