The biggest "betrayals" in football history (Part 2)

Here we have the second part of the article the greatest "betrayals" in the history of football where we bring other cases perhaps more curious or striking than those shown in part 1.

Carlos Tevez

Carlos Tevez (Manchester United - Manchester City)

At a time when Manchester City were beginning their period of wealth and were spending many millions of euros, they decided to bet on the Argentine player as one of the main representatives of their project. Tevez was at Manchester United, although his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson had deteriorated during the two years he was a Red Devil and that led him to accept the offer from the citizen team.

After the signing, Tevez and Ferguson maintained crossed public statements that later materialized in, for example, a famous banner during the celebration of a Manchester City title parade. Logically, United fans took a stance in favor of Ferguson, making the Argentine persona non grata at Old Trafford.

Luis Enrique (FC Barcelona - Real Madrid)

The Spaniard spent five years wearing the Real Madrid shirt where he made relevant contributions in some important games, although this did not facilitate the negotiations of his new contract with Los Blancos and, failing to reach an agreement, Luis Enrique was left as a free agent, deciding to head to Catalonia.

The relationship between the player and the Madrid institution was much deteriorated and that led him to make controversial comments about Real Madrid when he arrived in Barcelona and during the rest of his professional career. This made him a much loved character in Catalonia and a much hated one in Madrid.

Sol Campbell (Tottenham - Arsenal)

Campbell spent 12 years at Tottenham Hotspur, considering his time as a youth and professional where he achieved idol status by the fans both for his ability to defend and for his leadership and discipline.

However, in 2001, when his contract with Spurs was expiring, the English defender decided to sign for Arsenal, Tottenham's eternal rival because they were, along with Manchester United, the most important team in the Premier League at that time. Campbell justified the signing of him by the Gunners as something sporting, something that has never been enough for the Spurs fans who lost much of the respect they had for him.

Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund - Bayern Munich - Borussia Dortmund)

Götze was formed and debuted as a professional at Borussia Dortmund, where he managed to establish himself as a young promise in European football and even in the German national team. In the 2012-13 season, he had his peak as a professional, even playing in the UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich, which they would lose due to Arjen Robben's goal.

In that summer of 2013, Pep Guardiola arrived at the Bavarian club to be its new coach and asked for the signing of Götze who, in turn, wanted to be coached by the Spaniard. Bayern Munich would pay the release clause of Götze's contract to fulfill the wish of the player and the coach, generating some discomfort in the Dortmund fans. His stage in Munich lasted 3 years and his performance went from more to less, which led to a return to Dortmund in which he declared that he regretted the decision to go to Bayern.

Johan Cruyff

Johan Cruyff (Ajax - Feyenoord)

In 1981, at the end of his successful playing career, Cruyff decided to return to his native country and did so, as expected, to Ajax where he was so loved and so successful in the late 60s and early 70s. There he helped the club win the league while being an important player, but that was not enough for Ajax to meet the legend's demands for his new contract.

Cruyff, a little annoyed with the position taken by the Amsterdam club, headed to Ajax's historic rival, Feyenoord, where he spent a year and a half winning two titles and being recognized as the best player of the season in 1984.

João Pinto (Benfica - Sporting Clube Portugal)

He was part of the golden generation of Portugal that was champion of the under-20 world cup twice (1989 and 1991), which led him to debut at the age of 17 as a professional at Boavista and less than a year later, to sign for Atlético from Madrid. His few opportunities there took him back to his home club, Boavista, which could only retain him for one year since Benfica opted for his signing.

His stay in the Lisbon team lasted eight years, where he became the captain and one of the main players. Pinto participated in the UEFA Euro 2000 and being in the middle of the tournament, he was released by Benfica after an argument with the club's president due to differences in the negotiation of the player's new contract. João Pinto had several club options outside of Portugal, but he decided to stay in the country and more precisely, in the city, by only changing clubs, signing with Sporting Clube de Portugal. This went down very badly on Benfica fans that treated Pinto as a traitor.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus - Inter)

In 2006, during the World Cup in Germany, the Italian team went through stages to become champion while in Italy an investigation was carried out that became known as Calciopoli, which ended, among other things, with Juventus playing in Serie B.

Several of the players from that Juve team left the club with different destinations such as Real Madrid or Barcelona, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic decided to join one of the Turin team's historical rivals, Inter Milan. The Swede argued that a player of his quality could not play in the second division. Notably, a few years later, Ibra would go on to play for Inter's city rival AC Milan.

Niko Kranjcar (Dinamo Zagreb - Hajduk Split)

At the beginning of the century, Kranjcar was one of the young promises of Croatian football, becoming the captain of his team, Dinamo Zagreb, when he was just 20 years old. In 2005, after a couple of bad seasons for Dinamo, the player was accused by the club president of being out of shape and not focused on football, so he asked Kranjcar to lower his salary. The player refused, leading him to move to the transfer list and a few weeks later, to Dinamo Zagreb's arch rivals Hajduk Split.

Dinamo Zagreb's fans branded Kranjcar a traitor and made it known to him in the clashes between Dinamo and Hajduk.

Gonzalo Higuaín

Gonzalo Higuaín (Napoli - Juventus)

For various social reasons, there is a huge rivalry between the clubs in the north and those in the south of Italy, which was greatly increased during the 1980s with the presence of Maradona at Napoli and Platini at Juventus. In 2016, after three very good seasons with Napoli, Gonzalo Higuaín accepted an offer from Juventus to be the leading striker for the Vecchia Signora after the Turin team paid the release clause in his contract and, at the same time, became the enemy of Napoli fans.

With this we end (for now) the list of the main "traitors" in the history of football, where it was possible to appreciate the different situations that arise in the career of a player who, together with their personalities and environments, lead them to make a decision that can be considered very drastic and even dangerous.

Other language