Just before we get carried away

Madrid’s Loss

While football lovers are yet to come to reality with Chelsea’s best player Juan Mata being on the bench, a bombshell rocked the footballing world: Real Madrid offloads Mesut Ozil. Suffice to say that this is one of the most shocking transfers ever. In a window when big clubs dug their heels to keep want away players like Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney and Keisuke Honda, Real Madrid, a club that cannot be bullied seemed to shoot themselves in the foot by kicking out their second best player. Who could have thought that a player who scored 27 goals, and assisted 71 in 159 games after three seasons would be shipped out in a blink of an eye? Real Madrid simply made a meal of his weaknesses and committed a transfer sacrilege. Essentially, they have lost a selfless and clever playmaker in Mesut Ozil. Good luck Madrid.

SO CLOSE YET SO FAR

Many would agree with me that the European transfer deadline day is one of the most interesting day in football as even the richest and most organised clubs scramble to make one signing or the other. Yesterday’s was no different. Interestingly, there seem to be a shout of joy from all camps as their various clubs gave them something to chew by signing needed players. In total, £1510bn was spent with English clubs spending £630m, Italian and Spanish clubs spending £335m each, French clubs spending £315m and German clubs spending £230m.

On the day, many records were broken by clubs both at club levels and global level, but this is not the focal point this piece. Due to one reason or the other, some players who were expected to jump ship failed to move, either due to personal interest or the inability of the clubs to reach an agreement. Here is a complete team comprising of players who were reported to make a move but refused.