5 players who went on strike to force a transfer

#4 William Gallas at Chelsea, 2006

William Gallas supposedly threatened to score own goals to force a move away from Chelsea

Despite being a key part of Chelsea’s Premier League winning sides of 2004/05 and 2005/06, by the end of the latter season, William Gallas had seemingly had enough with life at Stamford Bridge.

Feeling he was underpaid and being played out of position at left-back, Gallas asked for a move to Italy’s Serie A but his request was denied and so he took matters into his own hands.

He refused to play in the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool before changing his mind and subsequently having a stinker in the game, and his relations at the club became so bad that when 2006/07 began, the word from Chelsea was that the Frenchman was threatening to score own goals if he had to play for the Blues again.

Gallas denied the accusations, but couldn’t erase the stench around his name at Stamford Bridge and less than a month into the season, he got his move.

He was used as a makeweight in the transfer of the equally controversial Ashley Cole from Arsenal to Chelsea, going the opposite way to the Emirates. PFA boss Gordon Taylor stated that “the whole episode left a bad taste in the mouth” and he wasn’t wrong.