The world of football has been gripped by Cristiano Ronaldo completes sensational £175m-a-year move to Saudi side Al-Nasr following his bitterness Manchester United to go out.
Although he received the best reception in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo announced he was happy to move to South Africa during his official unveiling in the Middle East.
Video footage released on social media shows Ronaldo saying: “Football is different, so for me it’s not the end of my career to come. South Africa. That’s why I want to change, and to be honest, I’m really not worried about what people say.
But Ronaldo will be happy to know he’s not the only one committing a transfer faux pas. Here, sports mail looks back at some of the best over the years.
Cristiano Ronaldo made an awkward blunder in his Al-Nassr unveiling after saying he was happy to move to South Africa instead of Saudi Arabia
Robinho believes he joined Chelsea after breaking transfer record to join Manchester City
Back in 2008, Brazilian star Robinho was desperate to leave Real Madrid to join Chelsea.
However, the then 24-year-old broke the UK transfer record instead when he signed for Manchester City for £32.5million.
sorry for robinho, He made a glaring mistake when asked by reporters about his new club.
“On the last day of transfers, Chelsea made a good offer for me personally, and a good one for Real Madrid, and it was accepted,” he said, before someone pointed out his gaffe.
‘Chelsea? No, Manchester. Sorry, he added.
Robinho holds his No.10 shirt alongside then-Man City boss Mark Hughes
Martin Braithwaite and Theo Hernandez shock at Camp Nou and Bernabeu unveilings
In 2020, Braithwaite completed a controversial emergency transfer from Leganes after Barcelona triggered his £16million release clause following La Liga clearance.
As usual with Barcelona signings, Braithwaite was unveiled at Camp Nou – but under strange circumstances.
Due to the pandemic, the striker was forced to perform at the iconic stadium without any fans on hand to watch.
You’d think that might have calmed his nerves, but sadly that wasn’t the case and the new signing failed to impress, trying terribly to show off his skills.
Footage made its way onto social media showing the 28-year-old trying to roll the ball between both feet alternately, before looking to attempt a ‘rainbow flick’ and throw it in l ‘air.
But after two failed attempts, the striker decided to give up and just dribbled before being ridiculed on social media.
Braithwate, I guess you could say, was following in the footsteps of Theo Hernandez who enjoyed similar success (or lack thereof) when he signed for Real Madrid in 2017.
The £20million signing felt the pressure in front of a handful of fans at the Bernabeu and could only manage six goalkeepers before the ball hit the bridge.
It’s fair to say that Hernandez has come a long way since then, having won World Cup glory with France in 2018.
Where did the badge go? Kieran Trippier and Maxwell Cornet miss the coat of arms of their new club… by far!
One of the must-have poses when a new player moves is to point the badge as a show of passion for the fans.
But unfortunately for Kieran Trippier and Maxwell Cornet, they both embarrassingly failed to find where the badge was.
Last January, Trippier became Newcastle’s first signing under their Saudi-backed owners in a £12m deal after a fine spell at Atletico Madrid.
But fans quickly noticed a mistake after Newcastle posted a photo of their new addition pointing to his sleeve rather than the Toon crest.
He is by no means the first to do so. Just six months earlier, Burnley had signed Ivory Coast international Maxwel Cornet from Lyon.
But like Trippier, Cornet missed the Clarets crest during his signing photos and found himself pointing to the Umbro badge on his new kit.
Kieran Trippier and Maxwell Cornet didn’t realize they weren’t peaking at their new club.
Everton misspell Gerard Deulofeu’s name on back of new shirts for sale
It’s by no means an easy name to spell, but you would have hoped Everton would have done their due diligence before trying to whip out shirts with their new signing’s name on the back.
La Masia famed academy producer Deulofeu originally signed for the Toffees on loan from Barcelona in 2013.
He cost Everton £4.2million to make the move permanent – after he had another loan spell at Sevilla – and he had a big impact on his arrival in the Premier League with his blistering speed off the mark tormenting the defenders.
He was signed as one of the hottest young talents around, but for anyone who wants to show his name on the back of their shirt, I hope they kept a receipt.
The embarrassing error saw the incoming Everton star’s name spelled as ‘Deufoleu’ by mistake. At least they have the right number!
Everton’s shirts are on display with Gerard Deulofeu’s name misspelled (right)
Benteke claims he’s a Burnley player on Twitter after signing for Crystal Palace
When the former Liverpool striker completed his move to Crystal Palace in a club record deal worth up to £32million in 2016, he suffered somewhat from a public relations disaster.
His updated Twitter profile featured pictures of him wearing a Palace shirt, but the bio read: ‘Burnleyl FC and the Belgium national team’. Its location remained in Liverpool.
The then 25-year-old then changed the club to CPFC, but not before the mistake was mocked by many of his 350,000 supporters.
Benteke soon realized this and apologized to his new fanbase, tweeting: ‘Oops my bad lol Yeah i signed for cpfc and not burnley. Sorry for the small error, the person who manages my Twitter was a little confused”.
After signing for Crystal Palace, Christian Benteke accidentally said he was a Burnley player on Twitter
Spurs flop Roberto Soldado fails to kick the ball into the Villarreal crowd… TWICE
Roberto Soldado became Spurs’ most expensive signing when he moved from Valencia to north London for £26m in August 2013.
It’s fair to say he hasn’t had the best spell at Tottenham, scoring just 16 goals in 76 appearances during his two seasons at White Hart Lane.
The Spanish striker returned home in 2015 – this time to join Villarreal in hopes of resetting his career, but it got off to the worst possible start.
During his unveiling, Soldado was tasked with kicking the ball into the small selection of fans in the stands.
But it couldn’t have been worse as the striker overestimated the distance and kicked the ball over his head not once but twice.
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