Top FIVE Most Bizarre Transfers Involving Premier League Players

Content Editor

2 years ago

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Chelsea, Everton, Leeds, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, Spurs, West Ham, Wolves

There have been a number of bizarre and head-scratching decisions made by clubs and players in the transfer market over the years.

The influence of agents, bad scouting and just poor choices on the part of managers can lead to transfers which shock and bemuse in equal measure.

The majority of transfers on this list comprise of players who were simply not good enough for the teams they joined but we will also be looking at some moves that were strange for other reasons.

Press the next page as we look at five of the most bizarre transfers involving Premier League footballers.

Julien Faubert to Real Madrid

The Frenchman joined West Ham in 2007 but an injury meant that his first season was pretty much a write-off. He started his second campaign with the Hammers strongly but nobody expected that Real Madrid would make an approach to sign the player on loan during the 2009 January transfer window.

It is believed that the La Liga giants even had an option to buy the winger but, after just two appearances, he was sent back to London. Faubert went on to become a regular starter for West Ham once again following his six-month stint in Spain.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting to PSG

The German-born Cameroon international spent one season with Stoke City where he scored only five goals, but in the summer of 2018, PSG snapped him up on a free transfer.

Why the Ligue One champions decided to recruit Choupo-Moting is open to debate but the presence of Thomas Tuchel (his former manager at Mainz) may have had something to do with it. How he managed to secure himself a move to Bayern Munich in 2020, though, is anyone’s guess.

Nicklas Bendtner to Juventus

The Danish striker had just finished a rather underwhelming loan spell at Sunderland (where he had scored only eight times in 30 appearances) when Italian champions Juventus came calling.

Bendtner, who was never short of confidence, clearly felt he could have an impact at the Serie A club. Unfortunately, he didn’t score in his 11 appearances during the 2012/13 campaign before he was shipped back to Arsenal.

Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham

While the legalities surrounding the Argentinian pair’s move to Upton Park have been debated up until the present day, there can be no doubting that West Ham pulled off a massive coup by recruiting the two players.

Surprisingly, though, manager Alan Pardew was not much of a fan of Mascherano, who was quickly moved on to Liverpool within six months, but Tevez played a pivotal (yet controversial) role in helping the Hammers stay in the Premier League.

Joey Barton to Marseille

The video of the midfielder speaking in a French accent has been widely circulated on social media over the years but it does somewhat overshadow why Ligue One giants Marseille decided to sign the midfielder in the first place.

Barton spent a year at QPR but, after falling out of favour under manager Mark Hughes, the decision was made to loan him out. He did play pretty regularly during his year in France before being reintroduced into the first team setup on his return to Loftus Road.