Join The Club
Sticking rather than twisting
It’s often said that there’s no loyalty in modern football, but even in the last couple of decades there are numerous examples of big-name players turning down lucrative moves away.
Some have chosen to stick with the club where they began their career, while others have been loathe to leave a team built around them, even if it means rejecting the chance to win more medals or earn more money elsewhere.
In this slideshow, we pick out eight players who concluded that the grass isn’t necessarily greener on the other side.
8. Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid)
Upon being appointed as Manchester City manager in 2015, Manuel Pellegrini was keen to be reunited with his former Villarreal charge – but Godin opted to stick with Atletico Madrid, the club with whom he’d won the La Liga title and reached the final of the Champions League only a year before.
"It’s true that City wanted me when Pellegrini was there,” the Uruguayan later revealed. “I’m proud that he wanted me, but I feel like just another fan of this club. I’m very happy here."
Now 31 and approaching the eighth anniversary of his arrival in the Spanish capital, the defender doesn’t look like going anywhere soon.
7. Pavel Nedved (Juventus)
Nedved was left frustrated when Juventus declined to offer him a new contract in 2009. Then-Inter boss Jose Mourinho called the Czech – who’d previously stayed loyal to Juve following their relegation to Serie B – and urged him to join the Nerazzurri, promising the winger that his team would go on to win the Champions League.
Nedved rated Mourinho highly, but the rivalry between his previous employers and Inter prevented him from moving to San Siro.
“I was and am a Juventino, so I said no,” he later explained. “I loved Juventus too much to join Inter… I really wish I'd been able to win the Champions League with Juve, but I couldn't do it with another jersey on my back."
6. Jamie Vardy (Leicester)
After Vardy’s 24 goals fired Leicester to the Premier League title in 2015/16, Arsenal triggered the £20m release clause in the striker’s contract. The former Fleetwood frontman thought long and hard about the move, but he eventually backed out and signed a new deal at the King Power Stadium instead.
"It was more a case of seeing Leicester as a club that wanted to build on what we achieved with the title and I want to be part of that,” he explained. Vardy has now arguably done enough to be considered the greatest player in the Foxes’ history.
5. Marek Hamsik (Napoli)
Five years ago, agent Mino Raiola said that “a great sportsman needs to find new motivation, whether you are Messi, Ibrahimovic or Hamsik. Otherwise you’re a flat player.”
The message was pretty clear: Raiola believed it was time for the Slovakian star to leave Naples. Fast forward to February 2018 and there has indeed been a change – the Italian agent no longer represents Hamsik.
Napoli's vice-captain has been a long-time target of Bayern Munich, Juventus and several of the Premier League’s finest sides. But according to the player, winning with the Partonopei is better than doing so anywhere else – which is why he’s stayed put since joining the Serie A side from Brescia in 2007.
4. Alan Shearer (Newcastle)
In the mid-1990s, Shearer claimed the Premier League title and two consecutive Golden Boots with Blackburn. He also top-scored at Euro 96 and was thought to be at the top of Manchester United’s shopping list, having previously been a key transfer target for Alex Ferguson when he signed for Rovers from Southampton in 1992.
But instead of moving to Old Trafford, Shearer opted to join boyhood club Newcastle. In his first season he won another Golden Boot, but the Magpies finished second in the Premier League table – behind the club he rejected.
At the end of the season Barcelona boss Sir Bobby Robson tried to lure him to the Camp Nou, but Shearer said no. He may have failed to win a trophy at St James’ Park, but the ex-England international insists he doesn’t regret seeing out his career at Newcastle.
3. Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus)
Soon after winning the 2006 World Cup with his country, Italy striker Del Piero learned he was now a second division player following Juventus’ demotion to Serie B in the wake of the calciopoli scandal. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Patrick Vieira and Fabio Cannavaro were among the high-profile names who sought pastures new, but the club’s iconic No.10 declared: “A true gentleman never leaves his lady.”
Del Piero duly took the Bianconeri back to Serie A, but the club failed to touch any silverware for four seasons. The forward eventually helped get the Old Lady get back on her feet, though, with his farewell coming after Antonio Conte’s side had scooped the Scudetto in 2011/12.
2. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Gerrard came close to leaving Liverpool after their historic Champions League triumph over Milan in 2005, with interest from Jose Mourinho and Chelsea prompting him to hand in a transfer request at Anfield.
The midfielder was genuinely torn between signing for a club with big ambitions and a visionary coach, or staying with the team he’d loved since he was a child. In the end, Gerrard’s heart ruled his head.
"Of course I'm sitting here with that one big regret that I didn’t win the Premier League, but I am proud of my loyalty,” he said after his retirement. “Liverpool means the world."
1. Francesco Totti (Roma)
For 25 long years, no offer was enticing enough to draw Totti’s away from the Stadio Olimpico. Two seasons after winning his only Scudetto in 2000/01, the boyhood Roma fan was wooed by Real Madrid, only for him to remark: “They taught us in school that family is the most important thing. Did you ever hear of someone leaving his poor parents to live with rich strangers?”
Totti didn’t win nearly as much silverware as a player of his talent could have collected elsewhere, but Serie A’s second-highest all-time goalscorer decided to stick with Roma throughout his career. He eventually hung up his boots at the age of 40 in 2017, having racked up a phenomenal 786 appearances for his only club. As Luciano Spalletti once declared: “It would be easier to move the Colosseum out of Rome”.
