From Cristiano Ronaldo to Lionel Messi, here are five notable transfers that happened in 2021 that few if any saw coming to begin with.
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There exists an old saying, “There are three certainties in life – death, taxes and unexpected transfers in the football market”. Okay so it isn’t really a saying at all but you get the point. The football transfer market has always had plenty of scope for unpredictability. As such, when a few left-of-field deals take place, it leaves fans in shock and awe. The 2021 transfer market is widely seen as one of the most crazy ones in recent memory. As such, this window saw not just a few but a great many deals take place which no one expected would happen.
With the 2021 summer window now closed, we look back at the five most shocking and unexpected transfers that took place.
Heartbreaking and shocking in equal measure, Lionel Messi departed the club where he won literally everything. The chickens of FC Barcelona’s long financial mismanagement finally came home to roost. As such, there were always doubts as to how Barcelona could afford Messi’s massive wages. As it turns out, they couldn’t.
The financial mess at Barcelona is so bad that Messi voluntarily taking a 50% pay-cut wasn’t enough for the club to meet La Liga’s financial fair play rules. Thus, even though no one wanted this situation to ever come to pass, it absolutely did. A teary farewell press conference followed, as did a move to Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent.
And while Messi has already made his debut with the side, it just doesn’t feel real. For many fans, Messi was Barcelona and Barcelona was Messi – quite literally so in his latter years. That he isn’t wearing the iconic Blaugrana strip any longer is still hard to fathom.
The Messi-Ronaldo rivalry is such that they compete against each other even for transfers. All jokes aside though, the fact that both Messi and eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo moved clubs in the same window is quite amazing. However, the circumstances of their deapartures stood out. While Messi desperately wanted to stay at Barca, Ronaldo desperately wanted out of Juventus.
The Portuguese superstar’s burning desire to win the Champions League once again played a key part in his move. Juventus, for their part, were happy to let the move go through so as to get Ronaldo’s wages off their books. However, at one point it seemed Ronaldo was destined for Manchester City.
Given his strong ties to Manchester United, that move taking place would have been quite something. Instead, in a volte face for the ages, Ronaldo eventually ended up joining United. City’s reluctance to pay Juventus a transfer fee probably had something to do with this, but Ronaldo is back to his English football ‘home’ once again.
This one is a surprise not because it actually happened but due to the time it took to materialise. Salu Niguez is a fine player but one who’s clearly out of favour at Atletico Madrid. Coach Diego Simeone used him often but mostly as a stop-gap to plug any holes in the side.
Niguez was keen to leave, and Atletico were keen to get his wages off the books. But there were no suitable offers, until reports of a loan move to Manchester United or Chelsea started to do the rounds. The United interest never went beyond anything surface level. But, as the window neared its end, the Chelsea interest sped up considerably.
In the end, Chelsea got their man – although the one-year loan move was made official after the deadline ended, for which they needed and were given special permission. Still, the fact that it got done after many assumed the move was dead makes it a surprise. That, and the fact that it ties nicely into the next two names on our list…
This was one of those transfers that boggles the mind – and mostly for reasons beyond the football field. Once Atletico freed up space on the wage bill by offloading Saul Niguez, they could pursue a shock return for Antoine Griezmann. The Frenchman was once revered at Atletico but a move to Barcelona – a massive failure for both him and Barca – left the Atleti faithful with a bitter taste.
Not that Simeone cares. He brought the best out of the Frenchman previously and the striker position needed depth, given Luis Suarez isn’t getting any younger. As such, this makes it an excellent move for the club – and for Barca too, who got the Frenchman’s huge wages off their books – sense a theme here?
Yet a look at the numbers makes it seem like a disaster of a deal for Barcelona. They had spent well in excess of 100 million euros to sign Griezmann. Now he’s back at Atletico on loan, with the club obligated to buy him after two seasons – for a fee of 40 million euros. As for Griezmann’s replacement at Atletico? Well…
Premier League fans will doubtless remember that Luuk de Jong once played for Newcastle, but won’t remember much about the spell. That’s probably because, in 12 appearances for the Magpies, he failed to score even once. Somehow he is now a Barcelona player.
And this isn’t some case of a player experiencing an upheavel of form either. De Jong scored a grand total of 19 goals for Sevilla in two seasons, hardly the output of an elite marksman. As such, this is one of those transfers that makes less sense the more you look at it. And what makes it all the more surprising.
