Top 10 Craziest Sagas Of The Transfer Window
The transfer window has slammed shut and we're all still reeling from what's taken place. This has to be the craziest window of all time - one that may only ever be beaten by what happens this time next year.
We're going to start off the list with two players who didn't get the moves they may have been hoping for. We say "may" with Kylian Mbappé because it's not entirely clear where this one sits.
What is clear is the young french superstar does want to play for Real Madrid. The question we'd like to know behind the scenes was how hard was he pushing for the move? It seems crazy to think that he would want to leave his hometown club right now. Why? Because they are better best placed than ever to go for the Champions League.
There's a school of thought that Mbappé wants to be the main guy. With Neymar there and now one of the greatest of all time, Lionel Messi, alongside them - he's not. If he did move he would have been the main guy and then some. Real Madrid are unveiling the updated Santiago Bernabéu Stadium soon and wanted a new player to be there. Did that turn his head? A packed crowd singing his name with all their hopes on his shoulders might be something that gets him going. For now though, he must wait.
Now this one was abundantly clear - Harry Kane definitely wanted to leave Spurs to go to Manchester City. At 28 years of age you could forgive Kane's desire to leave a club that hasn't hit the heights we expected they would. It was only a few years ago that Spurs were in the Champions League Final and didn't use that as a launch pad at all.
The Mourinho experiment was commissioned to keep Kane in London which failed. Daniel Levy gave him his word that he could leave but decided against it when it came down to it.
If there's an argument against signing a 6-year contract... this is it. You might get trapped when you don't hold the power.
Achraf Hakimi is part of of the brutal post title outgoings we will touch on. Sure Inter have started well under Simone Inzaghi, but this would still sting.
The financial problems at Inter (and Serie A on the whole) meant that supposedly one start had to leave. Hakimi was the expected player and boy oh boy what a player. Unless you're name is Trent Alexander-Arnold there's no better right wing-back in world football. The guy is a jet.
You only have to see the highlights of the opening PSG fixtures this season to see how well he's going. 60m euros looks like an absolute steal already.
If you told us Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi would be teammates at PSG this season we'd have called an ambulance for you. Crazy talk? Real talk. The once arch enemies are together in the city of love after Ramos's stunning free transfer.
Questions arise over Ramos's long term fitness but if he gets on the pitch it will be transformative. Leadership level 1000 and a man who knows how to win the Champions League - this could be the final piece of PSG's puzzle.
Sure Cristiano is a big deal but Raphael Varane's move to Manchester United may is one of the best signings here. We used the word transformative to describe Sergio Ramos's move to PSG and this is no different.
United have lacked a centre back partner for Harry Maguire for some time now and Varane ticks all the boxes. Leadership, big game experience, pace - the lot. Plus he's another pal for Paul Pogba which could come into the equation when he decides if he's leaving next year.
The pressure is on Ole for real this season because this United squad is really coming together.
When you join Man City for 100m you have to be high up on this list. Everyone's a fan of Jack. The trickery, the hair... he's just a likeable guy. Is he worth 100m? Maybe not - but if he helps lead City to yet another Premier League title it was all worth it.
On the flip side if you're a Villa fan you can be happy in the fact the club look to have spent that money wisely.
What was Chelsea missing last season? Goals. Who scores a shit tonne of goals? Romelu Lukaku. Big Rom was on flames last year at Inter under Antonio Conte. He comes back to the Premier League to a team that is now complete and ready for a title tilt - and a back-to-back defence of the Champions League.
Jorginho top scored for the Blues last year with 7 goals. Yep - 7. That's not enough and is down to the fact that Timo Werner didn't set the world on fire. Adding in Lukaku's 20-30 goals this season easily puts Chelsea in the mix for the title.
Who's betting against them? Not us.
Who's the most ridiculously run club in world football right now? Barcelona. 12 months ago the Catalans sent Luis Suárez to Atletico Madrid because of financial issues. What happened? Atletico wins the league.
On transfer deadline day Barcelona decided to level-up on this and give Antoine Griezmann back to Atletico on loan. It gets better though. This loan deal has an an obligation-to-buy fee of 40m euros. That's one-third of what Barcelona had bought him for from Atletico. Utter madness from an improving your rivals on-pitch point of view.
It's also a stark reminder of just how deep Barcelona's financial problems run.
Anything you can do i can do better. You get that sense from Cristiano's move back to Manchester United after Messi's move to PSG but hey, who cares. The romantics will love this move. It looked like he was going to go to City then the Man United heavy hitters got on the calls and texts to change his mind.
Cristiano is going back to Old Trafford and the whole world will be watching his first game back. We can't wait to see the reception and how proud Sir Alex looks in the stands.
He'll score a truck load of goals - but will it be enough for a title tilt?
Messi is number 1 because of the fact he's never moved before. After a while career at Barcelona, seeing him in PSG colours still doesn't feel right.
Now that Kylian Mbappé is staying we, lovers of football and the beautiful game, are in for a treat. The front three of Messi, Mbappé and Neymar is simply stunning to look at one paper. Will it work? Why wouldn't it?
Le'ts hope this season is as crazy as the list. It's something that looks like a FIFA career mode which has gone annoying out of control. Where you sit back and complain that FIFA has lost the plot - this is real life though.
Next off-season could be wild too with the likes of Mbappe, Haaland and Lewandowski all looking for moves.
- Tags: Highlights
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