7 Transfers That Ruined Footballers' Careers

From Arda Turan joining Barcelona to Jackson Martinez swapping Porto for Atletico Madrid, before suffering a career-ending injury in China, HITC Sevens takes a look at a number of transfers that wrecked football players' careers.

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[Lily-gjwb]

The story of Nii Lamptey shouldn't be compared to a Greek Tragedy, but instead to the story of Hercules. He never had a good father in his life, they were both awful to him. he was held hostage by his country and forced to play so much at such a young age, he was manipulated by his agent, tragically lost 2 children, was betrayed and left by his wife, and yet he holds his head high. he owns a school in Accra, teaching children to read and write when he never could at that age, he teaches football at an academy, he got married again and had two more children. the man is of steel, a survivor of what life has thrown at him and a man who lives to learn from his own tragedies, not someone who could ever be consigned to history just by what happened to him but how he stood tall against it.

[isaacshusters]

Jackson Martinez played for my local club (Independiente Medellín) at the start of his career. It was sad to see his downfall since joining Atlético after being so prolific for Porto.

[TheRubinho]

That story of Lamptey was so sad, he seemed to be exploited by everyone he came across in his life, the guy just couldn't catch a break!

[jakemartin]

A whole documentary on Lamptey would be great

[kid_doonski]

Alfie's name segues **UPDATED**
Without Freddy Adu (without further ado)
Eddie Howe (anyhow)
Wright ('right)
Hoever (However)
Watmore (What's more)
Ndidi (indeed)

[malachilayton]

I think alexis Sanchez deserves a mention as it wasn’t a injury that messed his career up it was the united transfer

[Filsantos]

You can argue Denílson's move to Betis was bad and weird and all sorts of things, but it didn't ruined his career. He was a staple at the Brazilian NT, earning 61 caps. In 2001, he was the best player in Brazil's squad at Copa America. In 2002, he played five out of the seven games in the WC, in which he was considered by media as the 12th player of the team. He may not have fulfilled all his potential in his career, but it wasn't ruined either.

[terrelmensa]

Let’s all gather here and give a huge hug to Lamptey. I am from Ghana and this man’s story is one of the worse things I have ever heard. I watched him on a local channel back when I was in Ghana and during the interview he burst into tears. Man has suffered a lot. I am glad he is doing well these days. I will have to look for him when I go back to Ghana this year. Man has seen it all.

[beato]

As a Portimonense fan I gotta say I'll always appreciate Jackson Martinez, he hadn't had a chance to play in two years when he came to us and had about half a knee to work with, yet during games he'd have just the most insane work rate and he was always an amazing professional. Having a player of his caliber retire at Portimonense was genuenly an honor and he'll forever be one of my favorite players ever

[olissathefeminist]

Nii Lamptey's story is sad. He eventually got married, had 3 children only to realize years later, through a DNA paternity test, that the kids weren't his.

[dvdv]

2:04 "Without Freddy Adu then."

HE DID IT AGAIN. HE ONLY WENT AND DID IT AGAIN!! 😆😆

[SodaSeezn]

Alfie can we have 7 players that Pele called the Next Pele and how they turned out.

[jonnyso]

A somewhat tragic thing about Denilson's carreer is that his agent was aparently a really shaddy dude. Denilson was actually going to Real Madrid, or was told so, he jokes sometimes: "I went to sleep on Real Madrid and woke up on Real Betis" because he was told about it on the day after. Later he also found out that his agent sole from him for years.

[Reorganiser]

14:29 Atletico actually still played in the Vicente Calderon back then. If you take a look at Atleticos achievements over the last years you'd actually see that the team has seen a decline ever since leaving their old stadium which has seen them in brilliant shape in order to not only win several LaLiga titles but also dominate (as far as you could say that with Atletico) the likes of a title holding Barcelona in the CL with MSN in their front line or Bayern Munich in their final years with Pep on the sideline

[aarongulliver]

Rebrov to Spurs was rough to watch. World class striker at Kiev but never given a fair crack at White Hart Lane.

[kickass]

12:19 the goal difference in that La Liga table is crazy the team in 8th has the best goal difference in the league

[paddyc]

Fair enjoying this one! Thanks Alfie. Jack Rodwell to Man City Francis Jeffers to Arsenal spring to mind for me! (As you can probably tell I am an Everton fan! 😂)

[nathanjm]

Most shocking part of this was 10th place Espanyol having fewer losses than champions Barcelona in 97-98

[Rawly]

Jackson Martinez was never the same after he got injured playing for Colombia not too long before signing with Atletico. Injury was never treated properly and his career pretty much went downhill from there.

[kasimatcha]

The amount of disrespect Real Madrid and Kaka get is down right unjustified. Although Kaka had injury issues at Madrid, we he did play he was outstanding. People will blindly state he was a flop or Madrid 'destroyed' his career but show a blind eye to his performance, just focusing on his stats...