Which current player do clubs most regret selling.
Sometimes clubs let players leave only for those departures to go onto enjoy vast success elsewhere and here CaughtOffside brings you the nine biggest examples of current players.
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9. Lucio – Bayern Munich to Inter Milan, 2009
Bayern decided that the Brazilian was past his best and allowed him to join Jose Mourinho’s Inter side, where he won the treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League in his first season there, beating the Bundesliga club in the final of the latter.
8. Wesley Sneijder – Real Madrid to Inter Milan, 2009
Same summer, same club and same result as after wasting Sneijder’s talents Los Blancos let the Netherlands international leave for the San Siro on the cheap where he enjoyed huge amounts of success.
7. Mats Hummels – Bayern Munich to Borussia Dortmund, 2009
After a successful year on-loan with Dortmund the Bayern youth player was allowed to leave for the Westfalenstadion and has since gone onto be a world-class centre-back and would walk into Pep Guardiola’s starting XI.
6. Samuel Eto’o – FC Barcelona to Inter Milan, 2009
Mourinho clearly had an eye for a bargain during his time in Milan as Eto’o arrived as part of a swap deal that saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic go the other way – the Swede lasted one year in Catalonia whilst the current Everton ace won the treble.
5. Ashley Cole – Arsenal to Chelsea, 2006
Although dubbed ‘Cashley’ for leaving his boyhood club for their London rivals, perhaps the Gunners should have just coughed up the wages for one of the best left-backs of all-time, who won every trophy possible with the Blues over the next eight years.
4. Andrea Pirlo – AC Milan to Juventus, 2011
Milan decided that the Italy international was past his best and allowed him to leave on a free transfer for rivals Juve where he has since won three successive Serie A titles and his old club have fallen from grace.
3. Arjen Robben – Real Madrid to Bayern Munich, 2009
Clearly there was something about the summer of 2009 and transfer mistakes, with this 30-year-old being wasted at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu before going onto achieve huge amounts of success at the Allianz Arena.
2. Paul Pogba – Manchester United to Juventus, 2012
Admittedly Pogba had shown huge amounts of disrespect to then United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, but the Scot should have perhaps been less proud when it came to a midfielder who left for Turin for free and is now considered one of the best in the world aged 21-years-old.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – Manchester United to Real Madrid, 2009
Some may raise an eyebrow at the inclusion of this deal as the Red Devils received a then world record £80m for Ronaldo when he left Old Trafford, but judging by what the Portugal captain has since gone onto achieve they should have held out for so much more.