10 greatest misconceptions in world football

8. The shirt sales of star players can pay off their transfer fees

Zlatan Ibrahimovic Signs For Paris Saint-Germain

First off, no, that's not how it works!

There were popular social media claims, especially during Zlatan Ibrahimovic's move to the French capital and Paul Pogba's move to Manchester United, that shirt sales would pay off the transfer fees of the players.

Right now, there are United fan accounts on social media claiming that Raphael Varane's shirt sales will cover his transfer fee to Manchester United. Fun fact: No, it won't!

In reality, clubs receive only 7.5% to 10% of money generated from shirt sales. Much of the money goes to manufacturers and sporting behemoths like Adidas and Nike. In rare cases, like Liverpool's lastest deal with Nike, clubs can get up to 20% of the generated money.

Liverpool's new five-year £150 million ($200m) deal will give them £30m a year, clearly not enough to upset the transfer costs of any first team purchases they might make this transfer window.

7. Manchester City Ruined Football

Manchester City v Chelsea FC - UEFA Champions League Final

If you haven't heard the rumors about the Citizens ruining football, then you haven't spent any time on Football Twitter. The seeds of the accusation were sown in 2008 when billionaire and UAE deputy prime minister Sheikh Mansour bought the club.

Man City started purchasing quality players, luring them in with lucrative wage deals and benefits. However, so did other clubs. In reality, City didn't play a large part in the evolution of the transfer market. While they have paid high transfer fees for a good number of players, all those players have exceeded expectations and played at the highest level.

The Champions League finalists don't even show up in the top 10 most expensive transfers in world football. Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG are all over the place, with Manchester United making a rare appearance for Paul Pogba.

If any fingers should be pointed at any club for ruining football, then maybe Phillipe Coutinho's €145m move to Barcelona should be mentioned. The highlight of the former Liverpool star's Blaugrana career was scoring two goals against Barcelona while on loan at Bayern Munich.

6. Chelsea were a mid-table team until Roman Abramhovic

Manchester City v Chelsea FC - UEFA Champions League Final

Many Blues supporters would certainly have become quite bored of hearing peddled tales about Roman Abramovich bringing the club out of mid-table obscurity and into the echelons of Premier League football.

And they would have a good reason!

When the Russian billionaire did acquire the club in 2003, and did pump in money to bring in some of the Chelsea legends we've all come to love and respect, he did not kickstart their success. No, the Blues already had three FA Cups, two League Cups, two UEFA Cups, and even a league title before Abramovich came on board..

The current Champions League winners weren't a mid-table club before 2003, seeing as they had never gone below 6th place in the league since 1997.

Fans will certainly be happy with the Russian's interest in club affairs, especially after Thomas Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard as head coach and led the club to their first Champions League title in nearly a decade.

5. Roy Keane's tackle ended Alf-Inge Haaland's career

Haaland receiving treatment after a red-card horror tackle

There's no way to excuse that horrible tackle from Roy Keane in April 2001. The Manchester United captain was set on serving revenge, and he hurt Alf-Inge Haaland badly. However, while Haaland did play the rest of the match, Keane received a straight red for his trouble.

So why are there rumors that Keane ended Haaland's career? That's mainly because of Haaland's decision to hang up his boots in 2003, due to injury problems.

Notably, Keane's tackle affected his right knee, which ended up okay. Haaland's persistent injury problems affected his left knee instead. Had the left knee not had any issues, Haaland might have given us a few more seasons.