Biggest Transfer Cockups

humdinger said:
Jon Obi Mikel to us/Chelsea was a total farce.
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I would love one day to find out the real truth behind that saga.. As I recall it was ourselves and Chelsea in for him n and it looked like he preferred Chelsea they were offering him the better deal .

Yet suddenly there he was a press conference wearing a united shirt having signed for us looking happy smiling taking like he couldn't wait to pay for us .

Was delighted as he was so highly rated at the time and really pleased we beat Chelsea to him .. Yet next thing I hear among rumours of kidnapping and forged signatures he has gone missing claiming he only wants Chelsea and never wanted to sign for us .

One side saying Utd and his former club pushed him into signing for us against his will while the other side saying his agents threatened him to join Chelsea instead and he was in tears because he wanted Utd

Would love to know the truth but guess we never will
 
kundalini said:
The Fellaini fee was a result of a reasonable strategy that didn't work. Moyes wanted Baines and Fellaini. He believed that if he paid Fellaini's buy-out clause, Everton would have the funds they needed and wouldn't be willing to sell Baines. Hence several joint bids that were rejected. Only very late in the transfer window did United separate the bids. Everton realised Moyes was desperate to sign a player and unable to get his other targets, so could raise Fellaini's price and still remain confident that United would pay it. Everton wanted to keep Baines so rejected all offers from United.

As to whether United should have been attempting to sign Fellaini (or Baines) in the first place, is a different matter totally. But the buying strategy had a degree of logic to it.
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Siddharth said:
Absolutely correct. If I am not wrong Fellaini also had to put in a last hour transfer request thereby foregoing his loyalty bonus.
I shudder when i think of that season. That cock-up of a transfer window foreshadowed as to what was in store for us that season.
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That ill-fated season under Moyes, basically began as it was meant to continue. It started with Moyes proving that he was inept in the transfer market and as the season wore on, he proved he was inept as a football manager/coach, too.
 
bobglory said:
35 million for andy carrol :devil: even in today's market it would be a joke.
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I'd go along with this.
Even in today's market, where prices appear to have trebled, £35M for Carrol would be seen as poor value.

Let's also not forget that at the same time LFC sold Torres for £50M, was it?
Some on here may think that our goal-shy attackers are bad. Torres, for CFC, was just as bad, scoring 6, 8 & 5 goals per season. Jose acknowledged this and stated in the press that his team were playing without a striker. Torres then left at the end of the season. Costa joined CFC in the Summer and CFC won the title.

The CFC scenario above is very similar to what we are facing right now. We are now without a goal scorer and are pretty desperate. Costa did a job for CFC; could Morata do a job for us and help win us the title this coming season?
 
Nate Dogg said:
And Moyes to United, thank you Fergie :wenger:
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That really was the biggest managerial transfer cock up. No doubt about this.
The only other one I can think of which even comes close was Brian Clough to Leeds Utd, in the 70s. At least with that move, Clough was seen as the best manager in England, at the time, so it made logical sense. In no way was Moyes seen by anybody as the best manager in England, when he moved to MUFC. I can only think that perhaps Fergie was drunk when he made that fateful decision which sent MUFC down a path which Jose, many years later, is still attempting to fix.
 
Nanook said:
Isn't the fax machine story not true?
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There is no fax machine. The clubs upload the documents to FIFA's online transfer system or something. Real were too slow. (Or Perez got cold feet after reading polls that Real fans were lukewarm to de Gea, depends on what you believe)
 
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Moyes actually tried to buy both Baines and Fellaini for £28m then two weeks later bought just Fellaini for £28m.

That whole Summer was one cock-up after another. The Fabregas bids, the Thiago saga and the Herrera horror show. Not to mention the desperate late bids for De Rossi and Coentrao...
 
Bobby Robson: The £7.5 Million Pound Mistake


In the early days of managing Newcastle, Bobby Robson saw Jason Euell playing upfront for Wimbledon and thought he was a fantastic player. But Bobby Robson is not very good with names and tells his scout to make enquires about the young black lad, England under 21 player, who plays upfront for Wimbledon.



The only problem was that Wimbledon had moved Jason Euell back to midfield and put Carl Cort up front for Wimbledon, who is also a young black lad and an England under 21 player.



So the scout comes back and asks Bobby Robson if he wants to put a bid in for Carl Cort and Bobby Robson says yes put a £7.5 million pound bid for the young black lad, England under 21 player, who plays upfront for Wimbledon.



Now Jason Euell is arguably a much better player than Carl Cort and maybe worth £7.5 million pounds but Carl Cort is not worth that much, so when Wimbledon received a bid of £7.5 million pounds for Carl Cort, they could not sign fast enough.



So after a short while, Bobby Robson finds out that he has bought the wrong player but hasn't let it out yet.
 
WackyWengerWorld said:
Bobby Robson: The £7.5 Million Pound Mistake


In the early days of managing Newcastle, Bobby Robson saw Jason Euell playing upfront for Wimbledon and thought he was a fantastic player. But Bobby Robson is not very good with names and tells his scout to make enquires about the young black lad, England under 21 player, who plays upfront for Wimbledon.



The only problem was that Wimbledon had moved Jason Euell back to midfield and put Carl Cort up front for Wimbledon, who is also a young black lad and an England under 21 player.



So the scout comes back and asks Bobby Robson if he wants to put a bid in for Carl Cort and Bobby Robson says yes put a £7.5 million pound bid for the young black lad, England under 21 player, who plays upfront for Wimbledon.



Now Jason Euell is arguably a much better player than Carl Cort and maybe worth £7.5 million pounds but Carl Cort is not worth that much, so when Wimbledon received a bid of £7.5 million pounds for Carl Cort, they could not sign fast enough.



So after a short while, Bobby Robson finds out that he has bought the wrong player but hasn't let it out yet.
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While plausible, the fact that they both turned out to be bang average means it was far from the massive balls-up it perhaps should have been.
 
jesperjaap said:
Agree on Stam and Carroll. If I was in charge of Liverpool I would pay the 70m for the Leizpeg player they are linke dwith , purely so that the clubs record transfer would no longer be Andy Carroll....how bad is that
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i just found it funny i didn't realize it was still there record signing, now its hilarious .
 
manunited1919 said:
What are the biggest transfer cockups ever? I am only aware of the recent ones involving United, but I am sure there have to be huge mis-deals involving many other teams too.

The ones I know of

  • United's first attempt to purchase Herrera, where there were apparently 3 lawyers representing United to trigger Herrera's buyout clause, but United categorically denied the lawyers were theirs. Huh?
  • Fellaini's buyout clause of £22m expires, only for United to purchase him a few weeks later at £27m. Hence began our fans love at first sight with the Fellaini tree.
  • DDG agreed a move to RM, where Navas would come the other way to United. RM dither for so long that the deal was never completed due to a faulty fax machine.
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Pretty sure his buyout clause was initially £15m, but we almost overpaid by double which is why we were so pissed off with Moyes.
 
bobglory said:
i just found it funny i didn't realize it was still there record signing, now its hilarious .
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They have just beat it though with the Salah deal, which is still a bit strange a club record transfer for what I would class as a decent player. Salah, Benteke and Carroll are there top three record purchases and not one is a player of real quality. Saying that although our top four are all quality players as of et Pogba, DiMaria, Mata and Martial havent justified the fees at all, certainly in comparison to many of our past club record deals like Robson, Keane, Cole, Stam, Ruud, Ferdinand....only really Veron and Berbatov were poor ones
 
manunited1919 said:
What are the biggest transfer cockups ever? I am only aware of the recent ones involving United, but I am sure there have to be huge mis-deals involving many other teams too.

The ones I know of

  • United's first attempt to purchase Herrera, where there were apparently 3 lawyers representing United to trigger Herrera's buyout clause, but United categorically denied the lawyers were theirs. Huh?
  • Fellaini's buyout clause of £22m expires, only for United to purchase him a few weeks later at £27m. Hence began our fans love at first sight with the Fellaini tree.
  • DDG agreed a move to RM, where Navas would come the other way to United. RM dither for so long that the deal was never completed due to a faulty fax machine.
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That DDG story seems to bizarre to be true... Always thought there must be something else to it
 
Brian Cough after selling keane asked the board for money, he watched brazil and seen romario, told the board and they signed robert rosario, they got relegated
 
WackyWengerWorld said:
Bobby Robson: The £7.5 Million Pound Mistake


In the early days of managing Newcastle, Bobby Robson saw Jason Euell playing upfront for Wimbledon and thought he was a fantastic player. But Bobby Robson is not very good with names and tells his scout to make enquires about the young black lad, England under 21 player, who plays upfront for Wimbledon.



The only problem was that Wimbledon had moved Jason Euell back to midfield and put Carl Cort up front for Wimbledon, who is also a young black lad and an England under 21 player.



So the scout comes back and asks Bobby Robson if he wants to put a bid in for Carl Cort and Bobby Robson says yes put a £7.5 million pound bid for the young black lad, England under 21 player, who plays upfront for Wimbledon.



Now Jason Euell is arguably a much better player than Carl Cort and maybe worth £7.5 million pounds but Carl Cort is not worth that much, so when Wimbledon received a bid of £7.5 million pounds for Carl Cort, they could not sign fast enough.



So after a short while, Bobby Robson finds out that he has bought the wrong player but hasn't let it out yet.
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I don't believe that little story for a second. Why is the manager telling the scout how much to bid for a player? Why is the scout involved? Why is the manager plucking random figures out of midair?
 
Siddharth said:
Absolutely correct. If I am not wrong Fellaini also had to put in a last hour transfer request thereby foregoing his loyalty bonus.
I shudder when i think of that season. That cock-up of a transfer window foreshadowed as to what was in store for us that season.
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Didn't we also attempt to sign Coentrao on deadline day as well, and ended up with it not being done in time?
 
love that story of Seth Johnson signing for Leeds....

fee agreed and before meeting Ridsdale, Johnson and his agent talk about aiming for 20k a week

as soon as they sit down, Ridsdale offers 40k a week and Johnson and the agent look at each other astonished....

Ridsdale misinterpreted this an fired back another offer of 50k a week - Seth couldn't believe his luck
 
Demichelis: On 1 September 2013, Demichelis joined former Málaga boss Pellegrini and signed with Manchester City, penning a two-year contract for a reported £4.2 million. He had been with Atlético (he joined them for free) for less than two months, and had yet to make an appearance.

Hødd almost signed Lewandowski in 2007. But they would not pay his planeticket to get him on trial.
 
Didn't we bring Ljajic over on a regular basis to train with the first team, basically grooming him for a move and then just left him in the lurch because of work permit issues.
 
A friend of mine who supports blackburn tells a story of how they had agreed a deal to sign Lewandowski in 2010, but the Iceland volcanic eruption stopped him flying over for his medical and dortmund came in and poached him.

More shit luck than a cockup though
 
manunited1919 said:
Just remember another beauty: In 2010 we paid Guimaraes £7.4m for Bebe, when 5 weeks earlier he was available for just 125,000 from his previous club Estrella.
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Thats not a cockup it's how Mendes works. He lowers or inflates the values of big transfers, as long you agree to some secundary lower transfer of another of his players.

Just look at the history of transfer of the club he's buddies with. Example: clubs managed by Nuno Espirito Santo(Valencia, Wolverhampton) which was the first big player transfer he did as an agent so they are very close.

Or Benfica, Mendes helped them get a good sale with Ederson, so in exchange they are buying another of his players, André Moreira, from Atl.Madrid for around 7M.
 
Smashin said:
Thats not a cockup it's how Mendes works. He lowers or inflates the values of big transfers, as long you agree to some secundary lower transfer of another of his players.

Just look at the history of transfer of the club he's buddies with. Example: clubs managed by Nuno Espirito Santo(Valencia, Wolverhampton) which was the first big player transfer he did as an agent so they are very close.

Or Benfica, Mendes helped them get a good sale with Ederson, so in exchange they are buying another of his players, André Moreira, from Atl.Madrid for around 7M.
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Yeah, Mendes is all business. So what was the other deal which we underpaid to compensate for Bebé's overvalued transfer?
 
Us not buying John Barnes - probably ranks as one of the worst. Barnes had been recommended to Ferguson, who sent one of his best scouts to watch him. After a while the scout reported back saying he wasn't quite convinced, and Ferguson decided not to go further with Barnes. Not too long after, he signed for Liverpool and the scout was never used again.
 
lem8sh said:
Rosario and Keane played together at Forest.
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Forest sold Sheringham in august to Spurs - and replaced him with a 32 year old Bannister. Coventry then signed Quinn from Newcastle and when the goals dried up for Forest they signed Rosario from Coventry to solve their goalscoring worried. Problem was that he had the worst goalscoring record in the P.L - needless to say it didnt work out.

So it was a huge mistake even if the conditions wasn't quite accurate.

Championship team Newcastle deserves a mention for off-loading Quinn and Franz Carr to Coventry and Sheffield United in 1992/93 for less than £500.000. Both players were huge hits in the P.L
 
Not a cock up, but a massive bollock dropped on timing.

The fact that Blackburn tried to sign Robert Lewandowski for £3.5m, but a pesky little volcano in Iceland fecked them over :lol::lol:
 
Harry Haslam missed out on signing Maradonna for Sheffield United in 1978 because the board would stump up over £200,000. They ended up with Sabella instead (was Argentina manager recently, I think) who did well, but he was no Diego.

And Don Howe turned down a young Ruud Gullit for Arsenal when he was still playing for Haarlem. He went to Feyenoord or PSV, I forget which, instead.
 
lysglimt said:
Us not buying John Barnes - probably ranks as one of the worst. Barnes had been recommended to Ferguson, who sent one of his best scouts to watch him. After a while the scout reported back saying he wasn't quite convinced, and Ferguson decided not to go further with Barnes. Not too long after, he signed for Liverpool and the scout was never used again.
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When Luther Blissett signed for Milan, the fans were convinced they'd signed the wrong player and meant to sign Barnes.
 
Didn't Wenger miss out on a young Ibrahimovic cos he asked him to take part in a trial? Or is that an urban myth like eat apple seeds and a tree will start growing inside you.
 
Hullyback said:
Didn't Wenger miss out on a young Ibrahimovic cos he asked him to take part in a trial? Or is that an urban myth like eat apple seeds and a tree will start growing inside you.
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Didn't that come straight from the man himself? 'Zlatan doesn't do auditions' or something like that :D
 
vodrake said:
A friend of mine who supports blackburn tells a story of how they had agreed a deal to sign Lewandowski in 2010, but the Iceland volcanic eruption stopped him flying over for his medical and dortmund came in and poached him.

More shit luck than a cockup though
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He was supposed to fly in to watch a game, not sign a contract. He was in Italy before that (Genoa I think).

It might have hurt their chances but the transfer didn't fall through because of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.
 
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