RIGHT PLAYER, WRONG TIME...

Botched Transfer deals in football.

The transfer window brings an air of excitement around the football fan base. Rightly so, as it gives clubs a chance to strengthen their squads by bringing in quality players and getting rid of deadwood. It goes without saying that fans hope that their new signings flourish and bring major success to their clubs. This isn’t always the case though. Many a time in the recent past, we have seen so many star players join certain clubs and become a shell of their former selves. Here are two of the most notable ones.

1. EDEN HAZARD (Chelsea to Real Madrid)

As an admirer of Eden Hazard’s brilliance, this failed transfer resonated deeply with me. At his blistering best, Eden Hazard was quite comfortably the best player in the Premier League. He made the game look ridiculously easy at times. Hazard was Chelsea’s main man for the 6 years he spent at the West London club. In his final game of the 2018-19 season, Hazard announced that he would leave Chelsea to pursue his dream move to Real Madrid. This piece of news would bring an immense feeling of sadness to the Blues’ supporters all over the world, as it meant the end of an extraordinary era. The dream move, however, was anything but dreamy, at least as it pertains to Eden Hazard. His stint at Los Blancos was rather forgettable, as he never really picked up from where he left off at Chelsea. He was also very unfortunate to have an injury-riddled spell at Madrid, and he only managed to play a total of 76 games in the 4 seasons he was there. He had a dismal return in terms of numbers, registering just 7 goals and 12 assists. Hazard ended up calling time on his career, stating that he had fell out of love with the game and deemed it needless to continue.

Eden Hazard being presented at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2019 (Picture courtesy of Getty Images).

2. Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool to Barcelona)

Oh, what could have been! As a culer (Barcelona fan), it hurts to this day that this transfer didn’t work out as we had hoped. Very few players could have rivalled Philippe Coutinho at his magisterial best. The best thing about Coutinho’s game was that he played on instinct. His performances for Liverpool were mesmerizing, and he had Premier League defences terrified of him every time he suited up for the Reds. In January of 2018, Coutinho left Liverpool for Barcelona for a hefty transfer fee of €135,000,000. At the time, it seemed like Barcelona had struck gold in their attempt to replace Neymar, who had departed in the summer of 2017. Needless to say, that was not the case. Coutinho struggled to pick up form for the Blaugrana. It didn’t help that there was already a great deal of pressure from the fans, given that the club had broken the bank to secure his services. After an abysmal two seasons of trying to fit in, he left the club on loan to join Bayern Munich. His spell at the German club was a tad bit better than it was for Barcelona. In fact, he came back to haunt his parent club during the Champions League quarterfinal in Lisbon, scoring a brace in an 8-2 thrashing. After the expiry of his loan deal, he came back to Barcelona and never really got back into the team. He had to leave the club on loan again in 2022, this time to Aston Villa. He impressed while at the Midlands club, and they signed him up on a permanent basis. Coutinho is currently suiting up for Vasco da Gama in his native Brazil.

Phillipe Coutinho signing for Barcelona (Picture courtesy of Getty Images)

I know that there are a whole lot more transfers that didn’t go as planned. Let me know more botched transfers in the comments.