Top-10 Football Traitors
Biggest traitors in soccer
Who has betrayed their clubs over the past? With a couple of controversial transfers going down in recent weeks, Raheem Sterling to Manchester City and Fabian Delph to City, SillySeason thought they’d look into past traitors in the transfer market.
Now everyone says loyalty in football doesn’t exist. Players will play wherever they can and will hardly have any affiliation with clubs they play for.
On this list, we prove that loyalty is dead in football by listing ten players that betrayed their clubs by the transfers they made.
Whether they left directly to a local rival, or eventually joined a rival, these ten players are classed as traitors somewhere and have betrayed one of their former clubs in the past.
The 10 Biggest Traitors in Soccer History
So without further ado, lets take a look into the top-10 list of football traitors.
10. Cesc Fabregas
Tenth place on the list with football’s biggest traitors is Cesc Fabregas.
The Spaniard left FC Barcelona as a youth in order to kick-start his career, and he ended up in the Premier League with Arsenal.
He spent many years at the Emirates Stadium/Highbury and then became the club-captain. However, he then left the club in order to rejoin his boyhood club Barca.
All was fine with that move.
However, after being told he wasn’t wanted by the Catalan club, Fabregas then chose to join…..Chelsea. Arsenal’s London rivals.
Fabregas famously stated he would only play for Arsenal or Barcelona and NEVER another team. He went back on those words and joined up with Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge.
9. Wayne Rooney
Once a Blue, always a Blue.
Famous words from Wayne Rooney when he was a youngster making a name for himself at Goodison Park with Everton.
However, after one stand-out season at Goodison Park, he quickly swapped Everton for Manchester United and infuriated The Toffees fans by kissing the United badge in front of them.
Rooney is now a hated figure in Merseyside from both Everton and Liverpool sections.
Although his career has certainly blossomed since swapping Merseyside for Manchester.
8. Emmanuel Adebayor
If you play for Arsenal and then later play for Tottenham Hotspur, you’re guaranteed to be hated.
Emmanuel Adebayor made his name in the Premier League at Arsenal and became quite a lethal striker with his pace and power, similar to the club legend Nwankwo Kanu.
However, he then left the club to join Manchester City after their financial takeover.
After receiving hate for the move, Adebayor then decided to celebrate a goal he scored against The Gunners by running the length of the Etihad pitch and sliding in front of the away fans.
He also stamped on Robin Van Persie‘s face which at the time, annoyed Arsenal fans greatly, however now they probably look back fondly at that memory.
Things then got worse for Adebayor when he swapped City….for Tottenham.
Never play for both North London clubs. Traitor.
7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Similarly to the North London rivals, you should probably never feature for both Milan clubs either. Enter Zlatan.
Yes the big Swede has played for both AC Milan and Inter Milan earning himself seventh spot on our list biggest traitors in soccer.
It’s unclear what fans of the clubs think of him, but AC Milan are desperate to re-sign him, making it seem that he’s probably favoured by them more than the Inter lot.
We don’t really Ibrahimovic will care about being on this list to be honest.
Dare to Zlatan.
6. Robin Van Persie
Oh Robin. What a mess it’s been.
Van Persie was slowly becoming an Arsenal legend. He had a stunning season during his captaincy and was on fast becoming a fan favourite and one for the history books.
However, all that was ruined in one summer when he handed in a transfer request, refused to sign a new contract, and then chose to join Sir Alex Ferguson‘s Manchester United.
He then guided them to a Premier League title during his debut season, but then collapsed drastically in the following two years.
He’s now in Turkey with Fenerbahce.
Arsenal fans hate him, United fans will probably forget him.
5. Ashley Cole
Fifth on the list, but probably one of the first major traitors in the game.
Ashley Cole left Arsenal to join Chelsea because he wanted more than £50k-a-week. He was offered a lot more in West London, so he eventually left North London.
At the time of his departure, Arsenal were one of the best clubs in football. They had recently go unbeaten all season and were in their glory days.
However, the money was what Cole wanted, and the money was what he got.
He then won many trophies at Stamford Bridge so it was probably a justified move for the left-back, but he’s still a hated figure around the North of London.
4. Kenny Miller
So we have covered the North London Derby, we’ve covered the Milan Derby, now it’s time to focus on The Old Firm Derby.
Kenny Miller started at Rangers, played their for a season before flying over to England.
Five years later, he was back in the SPL, but with Rangers’ fierce-rivals Celtic, where once again, he only stayed for a year before going back to England.
After one season in England, yes you guessed it, he was back in Scotland and back with Rangers! He stayed a bit longer this time however, three years he was there before leaving once again.
Once again however, he returned to Rangers in 2014.
What a journey he’s been on.
3. Ronaldo
We apologise for putting such a legend of the game on a traitor list, but come on, it has to be done.
Imagine playing for FC Barcelona and Real Madrid…..and then playing for AC Milan and Inter Milan!
The Brazilian striker broke two golden rules in football. He played for both the La Liga giants, and then played for both Milan clubs.
Luckily for the striker, he isn’t remembered as being a traitor, and that might be because he went from Barca to Inter, then back to Spain with Madrid, then back to Italy with AC.
He separated the controversial moves, but let the talking on the pitch cover the controversy off it.
2. Sol Campbell
What did we say about North London? Never cross it!
Sol Campbell did just that after he agreed to leave Tottenham Hotspur for Arsenal….FOR FREE!
Yes he allowed his contract to run down at White Hart Lane and then agreed to join The Gunners on a free transfer, infuriating The Lilywhites.
He then went on to become very successful, winning nearly everything in the game and is now an Arsenal legend.
Campbell has won more Premier League titles at White Hart Lane than Spurs has…..OUCH!
1. Luis Figo
Another footballing legend makes the list. Luis Figo.
Figo tops our traitor list for simply doing the transfer directly. Yes the midfielder went from FC Barcelona to Real Madrid and it did not go down well.
Five years spent at the Nou Camp, making nearly 200 La Liga appearances all thrown down the drain after he chose to join Madrid in 2000.
He then spent five years at the Bernabeu before leaving Spain for Italy and Inter Milan.
However, whenever he came up against Barca, he was booed fiercely by the club’s fans and even had a pigs head thrown at him on one occasion.