Football's top ten mercenaries

Peter Lansley

1. Sven-Goran Eriksson – obviously.

2. Ashley Cole – Cashley came over all indignant and nearly crashed the car when he heard Arsenal were only offering him £55,000 a week. All together now..... aahh.

3. Pierre Van Hooijdonk – comes in this high in the rankings for the wonderful quote when he spurned Celtic's contract offer in 1997. “£7,000 a week would be fine for the homeless,” he philosophised, “but not for me.” Joined Nottingham Forest for £4.5million then went on strike for 11 games when he found out the team was rubbish.

4. Gareth Barry – a family man of integrity, played his heart out for Aston Villa after they effectively vetoed his transfer to Liverpool, then decided, upon being granted permission to fulfil his dream of moving to a Champions League club, to take (rumour has it) £150,000 a week from Manchester City.

5. Winston Bogarde – earned £8.3million in a four-year contract with Chelsea in which he started four games. At least his weekly £40,000 softened the travel costs of commuting from Amsterdam to train with the youth team by the end. “I am the biggest outcast in England,” he wailed. Wonder why that was, Winston?

6. Fabrizio Ravanelli – loved Middlesbrough (“all I have for these fans is love”), loved Marseille (“it is my own little paradise”), loved Derby County (“Maybe I will pay for free? Money is not important to me”), notwithstanding their insistence on paying him £40,000 a week as the club sank towards League One.

7. Carlo Tevez – love that "Welcome to Manchester" sign they've put up in the city centre, with Sheffield United's favourite Argentinian in the blue of City. So unloved at Manchester United they paid him £90,000 a week and only played him 48 times last season, including a Champions League final, he soon found solace in an extra £40k a week.

8. Ronaldo – Massimo Moratti, the Inter president, financed the Brazilian's treatment, counselling and £72,000 weekly wage for nearly three years of injury before he defied everyone's denials by moving to Real Madrid.

9. Luis Figo – faced flying bottles, a knife and, urm, a pig's head from the Barca fans who used to adore him when he returned with Real Madrid on £72k a week (netto). “My conscience is clear,” he said. “I thought uniquely of myself.” Fantastic honesty.

10. Fabio Capello – maybe a little harsh. At least he backs up his £6million annual salary by actually being very good at his job.

Comments

[innocent]

but in this list, I hoped to find Emmanuel Adebayor at number 1 or 2. why is he not listed?

[Stu]

A few missing here..... Adebayor, Harry Kewell and Anelka!

[Steve]

...Where the hell is Anelka?

[aj]

Adebayor is a much more deserving entry into this Hall of Shame than Fabio Capello.

[joe]

the thing about ashley coles situation is if it was any one of you, you would probably do the same. verbally agreed £60 k a week then has 1/12th of it removed. would any of you turn up to your jobs if you had a months salary taken away overnight? no! neither would i.

[qs]

Tevez? Get real its not his fault he was bought by an agent rather than a club and then treated terribly by Fergie. Anelka should be top of the list, then you can add Adebayor.

[stu67]

can't believe "judas" Mo Johnston isn't on the list,after agreeing to sign for Celtic, took his thirty pieces of silver to sign.

[Richie, Dublin]

Joe,

Are you actually Ashley Cole?? If not, you're a disgrace. You can't compare the wages of a working stiff with what Cole turned down.

[Aaron R]

Surely it is not the players fault that someone says to them I will pay you so much a week and then is not either started or does not fit in as planned. I know I would not turn around and say no

[The Man]

Sven is NOT a money man. The FA gave him a 4 year deal in 2004 and then they wanted a new man 2 years later, how is he not entitled to a payoff? He did a good job at city and who can honestly say that Hughes deserves to be spending all this money after last seasons complete failure.

[E.R.Evans]

Joe, you haven't calculated that correctly. £5000 is 1/12th of a WEEKS wages. You can't the go on to suggest that it is the equivalent of having a MONTHS wages taken off you.

For a £20,000 a year job it would actually be asking you to take £46 less home a week.

[Dan]

Robinho?

[Liam]

If you take off your dirty, red tinted glasses Mr Lansley, maybe you'd see things differently. But, you don't want to upset any United 'fans' though do you.

[Michael69]

Ashley Cole has no business on this list. He was betrayed by Arsenal. They promised him one thing and delivered less. None of their "French" stars had to squabble over wages, so why should he?
Left off the list: Rooney (left Everton for pure greed), Berbatov (went on strike to get transferred for pure greed), Michael Owen (went t Newcastle for pure greed), Mark Hughes & Harry Rednapp (left Blackburn and Portsmouth for pure greed), Kaka (left Milan for Madrid for pure greed), Paul Scholes & Gary Neville (stayed at Man Utd just to collect a paycheck even though they are both way beyond their sell-by date), Gerrard (stayed at Liverpool only when they matched Chelsea's pay packet - greedy man), Terry (Mr. Chelsea clearly using Man City's interest to get more money - greedy man).

I could go on forever but i think i made my point. These lists are completely subjective. Lemmings jump on the bandwagons created by the press to hate Cole, CR9, Bogarde (who was completely justified and conducted himself professionally despite the despicable treatment he received from Chelsea), Robinho (run out of town by Racist Madrid for talking back to "massa"), Tevez (who was clearly not wanted by Fergie), etc.

[Jorge]

Liam: Kaka actually stated publicly that he wished to stay at Milan... It was the club that pushed ahead with the deal because the money was just too good to pass by...

E. R. Evans: if you take 1/12 off a week's salary, that is the same as taking 1/12 (one month) off a year's salary...

[McCann]

Come on, where the hell is Beckham??? I'm sure he always dreamed of playing in the USA against those famous clubs.....

[Adam]

Joe:

if i was verbally offered £60,000 a week and was subsequently offered only £55,000 to do a job I loved, then 'yes' I would happily continue turn up for work. With figures this high such a reduction really isn't as crucial as it would be in the 'real' world.

[Dazza]

Michael69
You are easily the biggest idiot I have ever read on these pages.
Rooney left Everton TO WIN THINGS, what chance of that at Everton, who in Rooney's last season finished 4th bottom?!
Berbatov was offered more money by Manchester City, he laughed and hung the phone up on them as he WASN'T INTERESTED IN THE MONEY, he too wanted to win things.
Neville and Scholes, I'll not even bother going into how pathetic a person you are for condemning those 2 ONE CLUB MEN as being greedy????
Kaka was offered much more by Man city yet refused them, greedy?
Owen went to Newcastle as they were the only club who'd had a bid accepted by Madrid, who in turn couldn't give him 1st first team football and as it was a world cup year he went to the ONLY CLUB that would give him it.
Tevez 'was clearly not wanted by Fergie'
This despite Tevez making several comments over the past 12 months to the press about the 'wonderful, father/son' like relationship he has with Fergie, and that 'Fergie has told me many times that he wants me to stay', then turning round and saying the exact opposite? He's lying! Or do you not think a footballer could ever do such a thing?

[steupz]

Evans, you aren't the brightest blub are you?
1/12th is 1/12th, regardless.

That's the thing about you Cole haters, you're thick.

[Ian Grant]

Michael69, "Lemmings jump on the bandwagons "? Do they not jump off cliffs?
Dazza, you are spot on about this halfwit!

[HarryB]

Michael69, what an imbecile you are. I see you've swallowed the line that Rooney left for greed, instead of the blinding success he's acheived with United since his move. Let's be honest, 3 league titles, a league cup, a world club cup and a champions league was probably beyond Everton. It probably still is. The same can be said of Berbatov. He was never going to win a leagie at Tottenham.

I'm sorry but I have no quarell with players who move and go on to further success because their moves are justified by that success. I also have no problem with players who move from one club to a bigger one. The players who deserve shooting are the ones like Figo and Ashley Cole who moved from already successful clubs, or Barry who actually moved to a less successful club for personal gain.

[seano]

ER Evans. Work it out. A twelth off each week works out equivalent to oto a twelth off total wages i.e a months salary

[ben]

How is Tevez one?

2008/09 EPL he started 18 games compared to 31 in 2007/08

played 48 games? He started only 4 of a possible 13 UCL games

He started more games in the mickey mouse cups like the FA Cup and Carling Cups - now which player will like that?

FYI Tevez scored more in his 1st Man Utd season than Berbatov did at United. He scored more crucial goals than Berbatov, like late goals v Spurs, Wigan, Blackburn and winners v Stoke, Liverpool and even managed to score a few v Chelsea

What did Berbatov do to warrant more starts than Tevez? Few lazy performances and didn't even score anything to warrant a 32 million pricetag

[Rhys Jaggar]

Any thoughts on an international 'Benchwarmers Utd' to go with this?

Mathieu Flamini, Alex Hleb for starters.......

Sean Wright-Phillips and Sidwell at Chelsea, I guess.

Must be a few more out there......

[Josh]

thomas gravesen at celtic!

bobo balde at celtic! (he ran down his contract so he could get his 2 million pound loyalty bonus haha and he was training with the under 17s!!!!

[BigMac]

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

[DR]

Michael69 is talking out of his hat. Cole has every business on this list, should have been number despite Michael69's fairy tales. Arsenal never made a promise to Cole and anyone who contends they did is a liar.

David Dein said he had no problem with what his agent proposed and said he'd put it to the board. If the board sanctioned less, that is not a broken promise. Cole's subsequent conduct, professionally and personally marks him out as only too right for this list.

Beckham, Barry and all those £50k a week chappies at St James' Park can be labelled mercenaries as well.

[Michael69]

DAZZA, Harry B, Ian Grant. You are further proof that most people are too stupid to think for themselves.

Rooney didn't win anything til years after he went to Man Utd. I'm sure going from £20K per week to £80K per week had nothing to do with his mercenary move from the club he allegedly loved to a bitter rival. You'd have to be a fool not to realise this obvious fact.

It's pure speculation to suggest Berbatov was offered more by Man City than Man Utd. These are the fact no one disputes: He left Bayer Leverkusen to double his wages at Spurs where he was on £30k per week, went on strike (the most unprofessional thing a player can do) to force through a move to Man Utd where he would be paid £100K per week. Only a moron would suggest the move was not for money.

Kaka didn't refuse Man City, Man City refused Kaka's astronomical wage demands. Of course, Sheeple love to lap up propaganda about the the saint who said no to the devil that is Man City. Well, he's being paid £150k per week by Real Madrid compared to £100k at Milan. His greed cost Milan roughly £30mil in transfer fees. He's the greediest of the lot.

No one was ever going to offer Owen anything like he was paid at Newcastle. Greed, pure and simple. Only a hypocritical hypocrite would claim Owen wasn't motivated by greed, yet Tevez was.

Yes, all the idiots and Man Utd supporters believe the crap coming out of Fergie's mouth. Fergie made it clear he didn't value Tevez last season. Tevez made the logical decision to leave a place where he was undeniably unwanted. You've decided he's greedy because he rejected Man Utd without giving a thought that maybe he wanted to play football every week. Yeah, you swallow every transparent lie that Fergie utters about wanting to keep Tevez but I refuse to because I'm not a devout Idiot like some on here.

Scholes and Neville are no better than any other mercenaries who hang on way beyond their sell-by date just for the paycheck. Stop drinking the Kool Aid.

Ashley Cole was Arsenal through and through. He agreed £60 per week, less than Arsenal's foreigners were being paid. Then Arsenal turn around and say here's your £55k per week contract. It was a huge slap in the face. It's the principle of the matter. They tried to undercut him simply because they thought they could because he was an Arsenal lad. Arsenal are 100% to blame for betraying Cole. He left as any self-respecting man would do. Of course, Sheeple such as yourselves do not respect themselves so you wouldn't know anything about that.

[Val Simpson]

erm, David Beckham anyone?

[Luis]

Very easy to criticize others. wouldn´t you work another company if they pay you double of your current salary? At the end of the day most clubs treat players just like goods...

[Gondle]

Michael 69:

Tevez is leaving Utd because he wants to play football every week?
Hmmm.... City have 10 strikers and aren't in Europe so will have fewer games to share out than Utd did.
Tevez actually had more minutes on the pitch than Berbatov last season, with a far inferior return, but the club still tried to keep him - where's the disrespect?

Given that Eto'o was offered 200K a week, and even Barry's on 150k, there's no doubt that Kaka, one of the world's best players, would have made more money at City - more than at Real M.

Berbatov could also have gone to City and got paid more, but he wanted success. Sure he gets paid more at Utd also, but that's because Utd are a bigger club: it increases the chances of success, it increases the pay packet also. At City its only the latter that would have grown.

Rooney left Everton and had to wait a few years for success - if he were still at Everton he'd still be waiting. Everton got a v.generous price for him, and the Everton-Man Utd rivalry has really not been a big one in recent times, certainly not comparable to their rivalries with Liverpool, or Utd's with City.

It does not make one a "hypocritical hypocrite" (genius phrasing there) to defend Owen: he wanted to go to a big club but none wanted him, so Newcastle payed him lots of money to compensate for the inevitable LACK OF SUCCESS. Because all the players you brand mercenaries have clearly improved their chances of success by moving, whilst the ones you defend have not. That's the difference - same applies to Hughes and Redknapp (because he's bankrupted Portsmouth).

That you would even try to include Scholes, whilst defending Tevez suggest that you are a City supporter, so I'll shorten my definition: anyone who joins City this summer = mercenary

If Fergie thought Scholes was past it, he wouldn't keep offering him those "mercenary" contracts to sign. With three titles in a row, it seems that the greatest manager of all time knows what he's doing (quelle surprise!)

Bogarde and Sven shouldn't be on the list though - if people wish to avoid the large payouts, then they shouldn't sign people on long-term fixed contracts.

[Euan, Ashford]

Michael Owen is a complete mercenary at club level, the only team he cares about playing for is England, so he'll just go to whatever club he thinks will get him into the England team. He robbed Newcastle of millions and spent most of the time injured (after rushing back to play for England, on more than one occasion). Then in January he turns down a £60,000 per week contract from Newcastle because he thinks he's worth more than that for being injured and scoring the occasional tap-in. Going with getting money at Man Utd. rather than first team football at Hull, Stoke or Everton just compounds what a mercenary he is.

[PH]

Michael 69,

"French" stars or French "stars"? Either way, Flamini left because Wenger wouldn't offer him more money.