trevor francis was the first million pound transfer for an english club
20 transfers that shook the world...
- Thread starter redtilded121
- Start date
Villa and Ardiles to Spuds
Buffon to Juventus?
Ridiculous fee at the time for a keeper of that age.
Ridiculous fee at the time for a keeper of that age.
Crazy summer on the whole for juve that season. Sold Zidane and Inzaghi for crazy money then went and spent a wagonload more than that to buy Thuram, Neved and Buffon. Came out a stronger side for it too.
Sol Campbell. Spurs to Arse. On a free too.
cantona to united was the biggest shock!!! it was pre internet and sky sports news. it came totally out of the blue. i went from hating him to loving him as soon as i saw him warming up in the tunnel against city
Tevez and Mascherano, two 'must have' targets for most top European clubs...ending up at West Ham United. Surpasses pretty much everything. Absolute what the feck.
Robinho to City was a fairly wtfable moment.
Campbell to Arsenal on both occasions was pretty bizarre.
Faubert to Real Madrid was another one which just left me confused.
Faubert to Real Madrid was another one which just left me confused.
Al-Saadi al-Gadaffi to Perugia was pretty mental. Then they went one further by trying to sign Birgit Prinz.
I cannot remember it very well but I imagine Gullit going to Chelsea in 1995 raised more than a few eyebrows.
...whereas Ancelotti to Chelsea only raised one.
Graveson was another. I mean, I know he was probably meant to be a cheap squad player at best, but that was just outright random.
hahahahahaha
Fergie's sources. 
Yeah especially when we all thought that we were getting one of them that night, crazy fecking shit that was, I didnt believe it a first and thought it was a hoax
Brian Moore.
Ronaldo at number one.
Alf Common Sunderland - Sheff Utd,,,was the original shocker
Andy Cole for me too, totally out of the blue. Cantona was equally a surprise, but I didn't realise at the time how good he was, being honest.
Spencer Prior to City on transfer deadline deadline day. MASSIVE.
Owen to United after being linked with the likes of Wigan, and his brochure being mocked by everyone.
Wouldn't be in my 20, but it's worth a mention.
Wouldn't be in my 20, but it's worth a mention.
He was an amazing player and his positioning and heading ability were absolutely the best I ever saw. He may have been too one-dimensional at the time to warrant a strong interest by a top club though. He could put them in better than anyone, but even that wasn't enough to get him into a Brazilian squad or another major club, when you consider how much the top strikers at these teams contributed to the teams beyond goals. Jardel required a team playing with the purpose of serving him, and that probably wasn't enough for the top top tier, at least from their perspective.
That said his decline surprised everyone. I think cocaine (and other lifestyle modifications after the aforementioned injury) hastened his decline dramatically. He just ceased to be a professional at one point. He'll be in poverty very soon, if he isn't already, I fear, as his last contracts into lower and lower tiers scream of desperation. If you have a local club that would pay him 500 quid per game plus living expenses he'd probably sign.
Keegan to Hamburg was pretty big. Woodcock to Cologne not so much....
Messi to Real will end the world lol
Tevez to Corinthians was more shocking than West Ham.
I grew up in the 1970's and 1980's and also lived outside of the UK.
For those who have never experienced it...transfers in the UK were massive talking points around the world. Look at the old World Soccer magazines for an idea of the impact they had.
Big news transfers that I remember being talked about included:
Malcolm McDonald to Arsenal
Trevor Francis to Forest
Steve Daley to City
Bryan Robson to United
Keegan to Hamburg
Denis Law to City
Peter Shilton to Forest
Ardiles & Villa to Spurs
Terry Butcher to Rangers
...and Andy Cole was very big news
For those who have never experienced it...transfers in the UK were massive talking points around the world. Look at the old World Soccer magazines for an idea of the impact they had.
Big news transfers that I remember being talked about included:
Malcolm McDonald to Arsenal
Trevor Francis to Forest
Steve Daley to City
Bryan Robson to United
Keegan to Hamburg
Denis Law to City
Peter Shilton to Forest
Ardiles & Villa to Spurs
Terry Butcher to Rangers
...and Andy Cole was very big news
In England only, some Italian fella was the first and a few others went well before Francis in 1979.
Put it this way, Maradona was bought for £3mil in 1983 ten years before a transfer of the same amount in England then sold to Napoli in 1985 for £5mil eleven years before Chris Sutton went for the same price.
Italy and Spain have traditionally been the big spenders with only about two or three record transfers being made by an English club.
Shearer was the last (I think)...
Simao & Quaresma to Beşiktaş was pretty shocking*, but then Turkey has seen a fair number of interesting imports lately.
(* OK possibly "eyebrow-raising", but you take my meaning)
(* OK possibly "eyebrow-raising", but you take my meaning)
Well past his best by then. He was only a work permit away from joining Rangers in 1996 which would have been a coup for us.
Always thought that fee was rubbish. No-one's paid anything like that for a keeper.
If that dodgy Darlington chariman had completed the Tino Asprilla that would have been fairly shocking
Or Eto'o to that Kazakhstani club...
Although not as much was'nt Craig Gordon to Roy Keane's Sunderland for £10 mill relatively even more bizarre?!
About 4 years ago was'nt it
not really. He was hot property at the time and was linked to Utd and Arse too I think. If anything it was looked upon as a good capture by Sunderland
Buffon at the time was fast becoming the best keeper in the land and looked like he had a good ten years or more at the very top. How many keepers have been in the same lofty position when they made their big move? None of the others who have been regarded as top dog in the last 20 years or so - Julio Cesar, Iker Casillas, Oliver Kahn, Peter Schmeichel - transferred under similar conditions.
He was young but very experienced, expensive combo.
Cech was the nearest equivalent and went for £9M. I reckon the Buffon fee was about half that quoted much of it comes from putting an inflated number on the value of the makeweight in the deal.
Tevez and Mascherano to West Ham was fairly shocking.
Gotta agree on Simon Cox to Swindon.
Parents live down the road from the County Ground. They felt something they said.
Parents live down the road from the County Ground. They felt something they said.