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Transfers have become an integral part of modern football, as clubs are in a constant race to secure signings of prospects from all around the world.
These transfers are either a hit or a miss, as sometimes the chances taken on players prove to be worthy, while other times it just doesn't work out for both parties.
We've seen players such as Wayne Rooney, Gianfranco Zola, Alan Shearer, Dani Alves and many others rising to fame through one good transfer.
However, there's a flip side to that coin and that's what we'll talk about in this article as we take a look at 3 famous footballers whose footballing careers were ruined by one bad transfer.
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Before we start I want to lay out a few more mentions: Alex Hleb, Shaun Wright Phillips, Mario Götze and Robinho.
Note: This is not a ranking.
So without further ado, lets get started!
#1 Andriy Shevchenko
From: AC Milan
To: Chelsea
Transfer fee: £39.49 million (€43.88 million)
The Rise
In 1976, Shevchenko was born in Ukraine. By the time he was 9, he enrolled in his school's football team. But the tragic event of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 affected his family and they relocated to Kiev.
After failing a dribbling test for a sports school, he caught the eye of a Dynamo Kiev scout who brought him to the club. Sheva saw a meteoric rise to his career under the Dynamo Kiev youth system.
Shevchenko made his first professional career debut at the age of 16 when he came out as a sub for 12 minutes in the second tier of the Ukranian league. The following season Sheva became the top scorer for Dynamo-2 by scoring 12 goals and was promoted to the senior squad.
He made his senior squad debut on November 8 1994, at a tender age of 18 and lifted up the league title in his debut season. One of the highlights of his Dynamo Kiev career was his hattrick against the mighty Barcelona in the 1997/98 UEFA Champions League, a game that his side won by 4 goals to nil. During his 5 season-long spell with Kiev, he won the domestic title on each of the 5 occasions.
His progress was closely monitored by AC Milan who finally in 1999 snapped up the Ukrainian for a then-record fee of £21.52 million (€23.91 million). This huge investment proved to be more than worthwhile for the Italian giants as Shevchenko quickly became one their best assets.
Seven successful years with the Rossoneri saw him scoring 175 goals in 322 games, and winning the most prestigious award a footballer can aspire for, the Ballon d'Or.
The fall
During the summer of 2005, Chelsea were desperate to bring the Ukrainian to Stamford Bridge, using their newly found wealth brought by Roman Abramovich. Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon was quoted as saying,
"I think Shevchenko is the type of player we would like. At the end of the day to improve what we have got, it has to be a great player and Shevchenko certainly comes into that class."
The Blues finally succeeded in their pursuit and lured the Ukranian to Stamford Bridge for £39.49 million (€43.88 million) which was a record fee for an English team back then. This is where everything started going wrong for the once European player of the year.
His Chelsea career was full of disappointments as he looked like a shadow of himself. The sense of lethality was missing from one of the sharpest strikers the world had ever seen. The Ukranian constantly saw himself fighting to find form but failing to do so every time. Adding insult to injury, quite literally, was the injury he suffered during the 2006/07 season.
A dispiriting loan move back to Milan soon followed which didn't end well either. He was finally offloaded back to his childhood club Dynamo Kiev in 2009 where, in all honesty, he did salvage some of his pride back by being named the best player in the Ukranian league. In 2012, Sheva announced he was quitting football for politics.
#2 Fernando Torres
From: Liverpool
To: Chelsea
Transfer fee: £52.65 million (€58.50 million)
The Rise
Torres was born on March 20, 1984 in Fuenlabrada, Spain. He joined his first team, Parque 84, as soon as he was 5. El Nino inherited his love for Atletico Madrid from his grandfather who was an avid supporter of Los Rojiblancos. By age 10 he scored 55 goals in a season that earned him the trial with Atletico Madrid. Torres impressed the selectors and was taken under the club's shade in 1995, kickstarting his footballing career.
The Spaniard rose through the youth ranks making constant impact on games despite suffering a few injuries such as a cracked shinbone which briefly kept him out of play. In 1998 Atletico won the under-15 Nike Cup and Torres was named the best player in Europe for his age bracket later that year for his performance in the tournament.
Torres made his first senior team appearance in 2001, in the season in which Atletico narrowly missed on promotion. Los Rojiblancos did secure a promotion in the subsequent season however, Torres wasn't much instrumental.
After a slow start to the senior career, the Spaniard caught pace instantly banging goals left, right and centre. After scoring 82 goals for Atletico in the league, El Nino made a switch to the Red side of Merseyside in 2007.
El Nino picked up things at Liverpool where he left at Madrid, scoring his first goal for The Reds on his home debut and scoring his first hattrick a little over a month later. At Liverpool Torres enjoyed the peak of his career. He had turned into a pacey, two-footed shot monster along with becoming the fan favourite.
Despite common misconceptions, Torres' form started deteriorating while he was still at Liverpool. His dodgy injury record meant he missed nearly half of The Reds game in his final two seasons. So when a mammoth fee of £52.65 million (€58.50 million) was proposed by Chelsea, it was hard to turn it down. But that being said, he was still a world-class striker when he left Anfield.
The Fall
Chelsea had been trying to get their hands on the speedy Spaniard since his Atletico days but finally acquired his services when after several bids getting rejected, The Reds accepted the British record fee of £52.65 million (€58.50 million), making him the 6th most expensive player at the time.
After joining the Blues in January, Torres' career took a nosedive as it took him 3 months since recruitment or an equivalent of 903 playing minutes to score his first goal for them which was also his only goal for Chelsea in his debut season.
In the following seasons, the Spaniard's frustration grew further as he struggled to retrieve his form accumulating several cards and few injuries and having the sight of goal rarely. Torres' strike rate dropped to under 1 goal in every 5 games, shocking!
The once hottest prospect in Europe also became a subject of mockery in an infamous event in a match against Manchester United where the Chelsea number 9 missed an open goal.
Torres was shipped to Milan in 2014 on a two-year-long deal but after a not so prolific season, he agreed to return to his boyhood club in Madrid on another loan deal.
Though not as explosive as he was in his prime, Torres did show glimpses of his talent occasionally for Los Rojiblancos making the move permanent. In 2018 El Nino left his boyhood club once again, to ply his trade in Japan this time, representing Sagan Tosu where he is still playing at the time of writing.
#1 Kaká
From: A.C. Milan
To: Real Madrid
Transfer fee: £60.3 million (€67 million)
Kaka was discovered by local club Sao Paulo FC at the age of 15 while performing for his school team Alphaville, in a local tournament.
In his debut season with the youth team, the Brazilian led his side to Copa de Juvenil glory. Kaka made into the senior squad in 2001 and bagged 12 goals in 27 appearances, triumphing the Torneio Rio-Sao Paulo, a football tournament between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro teams. Kaka made a total of 58 appearances for São Paulo, scoring 23 times.
After working wonders for his local club, the Brazilian gathered interests from many European giants with A.C. Milan being able to get his signature on papers for a measly £7.65 million (€8.50 million), a sum that was described by the then club owner Silvio Berlusconi as "peanuts".
Kaka made an instant impact on joining, he broke into the first team within a month of his recruitment playing as an attacking midfield player just behind Andriy Shevchenko, a familiar face on this list.
During 2006 and 2009 Kaka was named the Serie A player of the year twice, one of which was at the end of his debut season. He was pivotal in Milan's triumph of the Champions League in 2007 by being the top scorer and picked up the coveted Ballon d'Or for his accomplishments. He had struck an impressive 95 times for the Rossoneri in 270 games by the time he left in 2009.
The Fall
Kaka's downfall is one of the saddest tales in football history. The Brazilian was at an ultimate high in 2009 when Real Madrid decided to swoop him up for £60.3 million (€67 million), making him the second most expensive signing at the time.
Pirlo was quoted as saying-
"I remember how badly we took it as a team when Kaká left Milan. For two or three years he was the best player in the world. There was a point when teams just had no idea how to stop him."
Kaka's time at Madrid wasn't an utter failure. During his 4 seasons, Kaka netted the ball 29 times in 120 appearances and contributed to a goal every 0.5 games.
However, his 4 seasons at the Spanish capital were plagued with injuries, one of which kept him out for 5 months. The dominance of Barcelona at the world stage and the rise to power at Madrid of a certain someone named Cristiano Ronaldo meant Kaka couldn't forge out the legendary status for himself at Madrid, which he was destined to do.
What followed next were trips to Italy uniting with Milan, a brief stay at the USA with Orlando City, a loan spell at his boyhood club Sao Paulo FC, before finishing his career back in the USA with Orlando City.
It's saddening to see such an incredible player going through such rapid decline. It's hard not to imagine how happily things might have panned out had Kaka's Real Madrid career bloomed.
With that, we complete our list of 3 famous footballers who were ruined by 1 bad transfer.
