The transfer date is exciting for supporters, a crucial financial date for clubs and excellent content for each media, but what does it look like for the players involved?
The deadline is a question of uncertainty and apprehension for some confusion for others. It is a day when lives and careers can be upset, in a good way or in the wrong direction. A new challenge cannot come out of anything with a dream move in a larger club or reality could hit hard with a last -minute transfer which has only made despair.
So, with so many games for players on the day of the deadline, ESPN spoke to four footballers who experienced the experience of taking a step on the last day of the transfer window.
Publisher’s note: Julien Laurens and Sam Marsden contributed to this report.
Olivier Giroud
Mounted from Arsenal to Chelsea on the day of the Winter Deadline, 2018
“It’s a really strange moment for any player involved in late negotiations towards the end of a transfer window. It depends a lot (on) your situation: you could be wanted by another club but not want to move, you might want to move by ambition or for playing time or for another reason, or you may have to move.
“For me, it was in January 2018. I was 31 and I didn’t want to leave Arsenal, but I had to do it because I did not play enough with the World Cup at the end of the season. could not continue like this; it was too frustrating.
“I could have gone to Dortmund, who really wanted me and offered me a high contract at that time too: my family was still going to stay in London and I wanted to stay there with them, especially with a newborn baby.
“Fortunately, Chelsea came for me. I spoke to Antonio Conte and he told me that he really wanted to work with me. I had to play before the World Cup, and after five years in Arsenal where I have Given my best, Chelsea felt the right movement to continue playing and winning trophies.
“It was like a poker game. I was in contact with my agent all the time, waiting for news. It’s a stressful moment for you and your family, that’s for sure. possibility. All In a very short time.
“You don’t want to plan in advance either, so you don’t jinx nothing! Footballers are very superstitious. And if you don’t move, you are disappointed because you know that for six months, you are and often you are n ‘Are not happy in this environment, hence the reason why you wanted to move.
“In the end, the transfer occurred and everyone was happy.”
Fraizer Campbell
MAN United in Tottenham’s move on the day of the 2008 summer deadline
“I was with England U21 in the South and that United told me that they had agreed to send me on loan to Wigan, so I had to get up north and sign the documents. I had spent the previous season on loan in Hull, winning promotion at the Premier League, and was only 20 years old, so it was a good decision for me. It was a great opportunity to learn and develop my game alongside a high -level attacker.
“On the day of the deadline, I met Steve Bruce with my father in a hotel near Wigan and it was quite simple. We agreed that the agreement, signed the documents and brought it back to United because they had to finish everything at their end.
“It arrives at 11 pm and there was still no United Fax, so we start to panic. Then we arrive at 11:30 am and my phone rings. This is a hidden number, and the rule is not to answer a chosen number! But because of the situation, I took the call and it was Sir Alex Ferguson.
“He told me that United was trying to sign Dimitar Berbatov for 30 million pounds sterling, but the agreement would only be if I accepted to move to spurs on loan. That and I remind you in two minutes!
“I was sitting with Steve Bruce and my father, and I had two minutes to decide! To be honest, it was Spurs – a huge club – and Steve Bruce was great. He had played, he knew the game and Even if he was disappointed, he agreed that I could not lower the spurs.
“My family was not touched; I was only 20 years old, so I had no woman and children to think, but it was still a whirlwind. I was a few weeks before my 21st Birthday, so I had planned a big celebration with my friends.
“I had no problem with upheavals. I was young, I had family in London, but I have always taken the chance to move with work. I had already been loaned to Royal Antwerp in Belgium in 18 years old, so I was not died by the move.
“Was the movement a good thing? Wigan would have been a good decision for me, but with the Spurs, I trained every day with Luka Modric And Gareth BaleSo I couldn’t have complaints. Juande Ramos was the coach and he was really good with me. Told me how much he assessed me and wanted me in his team, but he was dismissed shortly after and replaced by Harry Redknapp, who brought his own players.
“I had a year at Spurs, then I signed for Sunderland the following year, so I won a good step at the back. I went to Wigan, but it was definitely an experience of go to the deadline.
Julián Araujo
Moved from the Galaxy to Barcelona, ​​a summer deadline 2023. Not all transactions take place as planned while the clubs rush to meet deadlines. In 2023, Barça filed the documents to sign at Araujo 18 seconds after the deadline because of what the club claimed to be a computer error. FIFA denied the subsequent call of Barça. Araujo, a signature of 4 million euros, has always joined the club, but it could not play for six months, when the next registration window opened.
“I was frustrated, I couldn’t do anything. My game was over, my part was managed. This is one of the things I learned throughout my career is to manage what you can control. “
Martin Braithwaite
Moved from LeganAndS in Barcelona after the deadline, winter 2020. Braithwaite was an exceptional case in that he obtained his dream move after the transfer window is closed. The striker (now with Gremio) joined Barcelona in February 2020, when the Catalan club took advantage of a Laliga rule which allowed them to sign a replacement to cover an injured player. Braithwaite was so nervous at the idea of ​​stimulating the agreement he tried to keep everyone’s secret – including his wife.
“Usually, I say everything to my wife, but she only knew it because she was suddenly disclosed in the media. He was disclosed in the morning and I only saw her in the evening. My phone sounds the whole day, and I know hers was the same.
“I just felt, you know, that I will wait and see how it goes. If it becomes 100% serious, then I will make it known (my wife), but there is no reason to excite people around me. I excited myself, but I knew that if I told people they were going to talk about it every day.
“For me, it was good to have it in my mind and not give it too much attention until it is concrete. Friends and family would like news all the time, and it can Drive your mind not to be in the moment.
“Overall, moving to Barcelona was a good experience. I moved to the biggest club in the world, but it was strange because I had always visualized there, I have always thought of That.
“When I started training, it was like another club. I felt that it was really natural, I really felt welcome by everyone at the club, all players, fans … They welcomed me with open arms.
“Leaving lesgans was difficult. Sometimes, when you leave a club, you can leave with mixed feelings, but they totally understood. They said it was a unique chance, so you should take it. They would have done the same thing.
“Even the manager (Leganés) Javier Aguirre was a bit.
