As The Times reported earlier this week in their transfer window column, along with almost every other tabloid newspaper, Liverpool are rumoured to be interested in signing former Manchester United hero, Javier Hernández. The Mexican striker has set the Bundesliga alight this season, scoring 21 goals in his first 24 games for Bayer Leverkusen.
Enjoying a new lease of life since leaving Old Trafford last summer, it’s only natural that there is renewed interest in an already proven goal-scorer. If Hernández should make the move to Anfield, however, he can expect a hostile reception from United fans next time he shows his face in M16. As the list below proves, even when a transfer is not directly between two rival clubs, past affiliations can cause major outrage.
Controversial Transfer XI
Robin van Persie
In 2012, Robin van Persie was the hottest striker in the Premier League. Having seemingly found a way to manage his questionable injury record, he scored 37 goals in all competitions for the Gunners. He then announced he would not be signing a new contract at the Emirates, with his current deal having only twelve months to run.
Despite interest from Juventus and Manchester City, he caused uproar when he moved to Old Trafford for an initial £22.5 million. This fee rose by a further £1.5 million, when another 30 goals by RVP helped secure United’s 20th Premier League title. Arsenal fans were not impressed and, to this day, many refer to him as “Judas”.
Ashley Cole
A transfer saga that took more than eighteen months to be completed, Arsenal left-back Ashley Cole finally got his move to Stamford Bridge in 2006. Chelsea, Cole, his agent Jonathan Barnett and manager José Mourinho were handed fines totaling more than half a million pounds after being found guilty of breaching FA regulations, at a hotel meeting in January 2005, which was to discuss the potential transfer. Cole had apparently been appalled at being offered a “paltry” £55,000 per week by Arsenal.
After many weeks of negotiations, Cole moved to Stamford Bridge for a fee of £5 million which saw Chelsea defender, William Gallas, move to the Emirates. Gallas had also caused some controversy earlier that summer, trying to force through a move to Milan, and rumoured to have threatened to “score own goals” if Chelsea refused to let him go. It’s safe to say that neither player is held in much regard by fans of their former clubs.
Carlos Tevez
During his two year loan spell at Old Trafford, Tevez was adored by the Manchester United fans. Towards the end of his time with the Red Devils, the Stretford End could regularly be heard singing, “Fergie, Fergie, sign him up”. But Tevez had grown unsettled at United, with record signing Dimitar Berbatov significantly reducing his game time. In the summer of 2009, Tevez crossed the divide in Manchester, moving to newly rich City.
The United fans, already devastated by the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo, were disgusted. City stoked the flames even further with their now infamous, “Welcome to Manchester” advertising banner. The reception Tevez received at Old Trafford, when he returned with his new club, was anything but welcome.
Sol Campbell
In 2001, Tottenham were a mid-table club going nowhere and had a world class centre-half nearing the end of his contract. Campbell was never going to sign an extension, even though he claimed he was staying, and with no transfer fee involved, he was targeted by every major club in Europe. Despite interest from Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid, he chose to move to Arsenal, despite previously stating he would never play for them.
Citing a need to play Champions League football as his reason to leave White Hart Lane, he became part of one the best sides in division history, who won the Premier League in 2004 without a single defeat. The backlash from the Spurs fans, however, was incredible. Campbell has since stated his shock at seeing one of his own brothers in the crowd, joining in the abuse, when he returned to Tottenham with his new club later that year. He will never be forgiven by the Spurs faithful.
Paul Ince
Not one, but two of Ince’s transfers have caused much heartbreak during his career. Firstly, there was his transfer from West Ham to Manchester United in 1989. Ince was pictured posing in a United shirt before he’d even had a medical at Old Trafford, which he promptly failed. This caused uproar among the fans but the deal was resurrected, with the £1.5 million fee to be paid in instalments rather than upfront. Every time he returned to Upton Park he was given a traitor’s reception. He had the last laugh, however, when scoring a late equaliser against them in a 2-2 draw in 1994.
In 1997, United had the option to buy him back from Inter, but with Roy Keane, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes in United’s midfield, they really didn’t need him. The fans wouldn’t have been too bothered, if only he had chosen to sign for anyone but Liverpool. Such was United’s dominance at the time, however, it still wasn’t a major issue until he scored against them in 1999. With United going for the Treble, Ince again equalised in a 2-2 draw against his former employers, but it was his over-exuberant celebrations with the Anfield faithful that forever tainted his reputation among United fans.
Luís Figo
Several players have moved directly between Barcelona and Real Madrid down the years, with Michael Laudrup, Luis Enrique and Javier Saviola among the more high profile players to have made the switch. None of them, however, can match the level of hatred directed towards Figo when Madrid activated the world record £37 million buyout clause in his contract in 2000. Later that year, he would win the Ballon d’Or, thanks to his performances for Barcelona and Portugal.
When he returned to the Nou Camp, he received beer bottles, lighters and golf balls, which were thrown at him by the fans of his former club. Most shockingly, on his second return in 2002, a pig’s head was thrown at him. Anyone would think they had a problem with him.
Michael Owen
A Liverpool legend in his own right, he became a villain with the Anfield fans when he joined Manchester United on a free transfer. Having left Liverpool in 2004, he had spells at Real Madrid and Newcastle, moving to Old Trafford when the latter were relegated in 2009. Rafael Benítez had the option to bring him back to Liverpool, but chose not to.
By this time, Owen’s various injuries had robbed him of that extra yard of pace that had made him such hot property earlier in his career. Despite scoring the winner in the Manchester derby, a hat-trick against Wolfsburg and a goal in the 2010 League Cup Final, Owen spent the majority of his United career in the Old Trafford treatment room. He did receive a Premier League winners’ medal, but it came at the cost of losing his status as one of Anfield’s favourite sons.
Cesc Fàbregas
Arsenal fans were understandably upset when Fàbregas left the Emirates in 2011, but as he was joining his hometown club, Barcelona, most of them wished him well. When Fàbregas left the Nou Camp in 2014, he became an instant enemy of Gunners fans by joining Chelsea. Rumour has it that Arsène Wenger had the option to re-sign the Spanish international, but decided against it. This didn’t hold any weight with Arsenal fans, however, who accused him of being a traitor to the club.
When Chelsea won 1-0 at the Emirates last weekend, the souring of the relationship took a new twist when Fàbregas, booed by the home crowd throughout the game, tapped the badge on his chest when addressing the Arsenal fans. It is probably safe to say that these are definitely irreconcilable differences.
Roberto Baggio
To this day, Roberto Baggio is recognised by many as the greatest talent Italy has ever produced. In 1990, when Fiorentina were forced to sell him due to financial difficulties, it produced rioting in the streets of Florence. Over the course of three days, more than fifty people were injured in the scenes that ensued. The strange thing, however, is that none of the vitriol was aimed at Baggio, but at the club themselves. The fans knew that the player didn’t want to leave, later quoted as saying, “I felt compelled to accept the transfer”. But the club could not turn down a world record £8 million transfer fee. Baggio demonstrated his loyalty in April 1991, first refusing to take a penalty against his former club and then picking up a Fiorentina scarf at the end of the game. This did not go down too well with his new club’s fans.
In 1995, Baggio secured a transfer to AC Milan, which prompted more protests in the streets, this time from Juventus supporters. According to Football Italia reporter James Richardson “This time there was only one day of protest, and even that was cancelled, due to bad weather”.
Eric Cantona
Many players have moved from Elland Road to Old Trafford throughout history. Rio Ferdinand and Alan Smith, in 2002 and 2004, respectively, were the most recent. Despite the dismay both caused when making the switch, due to Leeds United’s dire financial situation, neither were exactly a surprise. The same cannot be said of a certain Frenchman by the name of Eric Cantona, whose transfer to hated rivals, Manchester United, in November 1992 sent shockwaves throughout the country.
Having inspired Leeds to the league title the previous season, his transfer was so unexpected that there was not even the slightest rumour in the media; nobody knew until United announced it. What happened next was that Cantona proved the catalyst which saw Manchester United installed as the dominant force in English football for much of the next twenty years. Whenever he returned to Elland Road in a red shirt, he received the type of abuse previously unseen in England. On his final visit back to Leeds in 1996, having already missed a penalty, he tapped in the final goal of a 4-0 United win, then celebrated in front of the home fans. The home crowd were not too pleased, and the vast majority of Leeds United fans have still not forgiven him.
Maurice “Mo” Johnston
Undoubtedly the least high profile player on this list, his transfer to Glasgow Rangers in 1989 was probably the most controversial of all. Many may be unaware of the religious affiliations of Celtic (Catholic) and Rangers (Protestant), but they are values that many fans still hold true to this day. Mo Johnston had previously been an important player for Celtic, before transferring to French side Nantes in 1987. In those days, if you had played for one of the Old Firm, it usually meant you would have no chance of playing for the other. Before Johnston’s transfer, only one player since World War Two had played for both sides. To this day, only three others have done it since.
After spending two years plying his trade in the French league, Johnston was persuaded by Rangers manager, Graeme Souness, to reject his former club and move to Ibrox. The fallout from this was that it outraged both sides of Glasgow. Celtic fans accused Johnston of being a traitor, and Rangers fans were equally unhappy that not only did they have a Catholic playing for them, but one who had played for their biggest rivals. Most Rangers fans softened their stance a few months after his signing, when he scored a late winner against his old club.
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