Seen as though we are right in the heart of the summer transfer window right now, we thought it was about time we did a transfer-related video.
If you do have any transfer-related video ideas, and I don’t really do any clickbaity, rumour-type nonsense because I have delusions of grandeur and I like to think we’re a bit better than that at HITC Sevens – and when I say we I mean me and all you subscribers – but yeah, if you do have any transfer-related ideas, don’t hesitate to let me know about them in the comments or on Twitter at @HITCSevens.
Today’s video is about the only thing better than a shiny new summer signing… a double-signing. With a double-signing, you’ve got the bonus of if one addition turns out to be a dud, you’ve always got the other one, and as you’ll see, that is quite often the case… Basically we’re just going to look at seven random double-signings and compare how the two players did both at the clubs they signed for and beyond.
Before I get started, and I must apologise for this, but YouTube keep nagging me so I have to tell you. Apparently YouTube notifications have changed… again. There’s no longer just the two settings of having notifications turned off or on for videos. There’s now ‘none’ – which obviously means you get no notifications, ‘personalised’ which means you just get some, and ‘all’ which – as you’ve probably guessed means you get all of them. Now of our 150,000+ subscribers, apparently 17.2% have it set so they get all notifications, so obviously feel free to subscribe if you don’t already and if you do already subscribe and you want to get notifications it might be worth checking that out. Personally, if I subscribe to a channel I want to know when they’ve uploaded a video, but I guess that would be too simple and obvious. So yeah, right, back to the actual video.
Here are seven double-signings in football: How did they pan out?
7. Kyle Walker & Kyle Naughton
Both called Kyle, both born in Sheffield and both right-backs, Kyle Walker and Kyle Naughton joined Tottenham from Sheffield United in a double-deal for a combined fee of £9 million ten years ago. It would be fair to say the deal worked out pretty well for Tottenham, who have since sold the two full-backs for a combined total of £55 million.
Walker was able to nail down his spot in the Spurs starting XI in the 2011-12 season, and whilst Naughton did have a couple of seasons in which he got frequent gametime – sometimes at left-back – it was always going to be difficult dislodging Walker in his preferred position. Naughton made 74 appearances for Tottenham in total before becoming the first of the two to leave, joining current club Swansea City for a reported £5 million.
Walker made the PFA Team of the Year as the PFA Young Player of the Year in his breakout campaign, and he has been an England international ever since. He left Spurs in a potential £50 million move to Man City, where he has won six trophies in two seasons and recently signed a new contract extension that will keep him at the Etihad until 2024.
6. Leonardo Bonucci and Jorge Andres Martinez
ALLIANZ STADIUM, TURIN, ITALY – 2019
Signed on the same day from Bari and Catania respectively, centre-back Leonardo Bonucci cost Juventus €15.5 million, whilst wide man Jorge Andres Martinez arrived for €12 million. He may have cost a little more, but there can be few doubts that Bonucci was the better buy. Now in his second stint with the club, the Italian international previously established himself as one of the best centre-backs in the world in his first seven seasons in Turin before departing for a season with AC Milan.
Martinez, meanwhile, who won 14 caps for Uruguay, barely ever played for the Old Lady. Although he spent six years contracted to the club, only leaving one year earlier than Bonucci, he played just 14 games for Juve, compared to Bonucci’s 319 appearances. Martinez now appears to have retired at the age of 36, having last played for Juventud in his native Uruguay. Bonucci is now back at Juventus having lasted only a season with AC Milan, and he caused a stir earlier this season by suggesting that young striker Moise Kean was partly to blame for the racist abuse he received from Cagliari fans.
5. John Hartson and Chris Kiwomya
The earliest double-signing in this seven, involving two players who have since retired, John Hartson and Chris Kiwomya both joined Arsenal on January 14th 1995, just a month before George Graham was sacked and replaced by caretaker boss Stewart Houston. The move saw Hartson become the most expensive teenager in the history of the British game, costing £2.5 million at the age of 19, whilst Kiwomya didn’t come cheap at £1.25 million either.
Neither of the two forwards stuck around for long at Arsenal, as Arsene Wenger arrived in 1996 and brought in his own players. Hartson left in 1997, whilst Kiwomya stuck around until 1998, but it was Hartson who had a bigger impact. A big, boisterous centre-forward who was particularly dangerous in the air, he scored 17 goals in 71 games before being sold for twice what Arsenal had paid for him in a £5 million deal that made his West Ham’s record signing. He scored at an impressive rate for West Ham, Wimbledon and Coventry, but is best remembered for his five-year stay at Celtic alongside Chris Sutton.
Kiwomya went out on-loan twice to France and Malaysia, and he only managed to score 3 goals in 14 outings for the Gunners. He left after three years on a free transfer to Queens Park Rangers, where he had three good years, before ending his career after a brief stint in Denmark.
4. Harry Maguire and Andy Robertson
(THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Andrew Robertson of Liverpool with Harry Maguire of Leicester City during the Premier League match between Leicester City and Liverpool FC at The…
Whilst Kyle Walker clearly proved to be a better signing than Kyle Naughton, Bonucci was obviously a better addition than Martinez and Hartson a much better investment by Arsenal than Kiwomya, it’s much trickier to split our fourth-placed double-signing. Following a season in which Hull City had reached an FA Cup final and going into a campaign in which they would play European football, Harry Maguire and Andy Robertson both arrived on July 19th 2014.
Maguire arrived for £2.5 million off the back of a trio of good seasons in League One with Sheffield United, whilst Robertson cost the club £2.85 million fresh off the back of his debut campaign in the top flight of Scottish football with Dundee United. Robertson was immediately thrust into Premier League action, playing 24 games in his debut campaign, where he looked raw and inexperienced, but also bright and energetic.
Maguire was less fancied by Bruce, who sent him out on-loan to Wigan Athletic in January after he’d played just 3 Premier League games. Robertson grew as a player as his Hull City career went on, before Liverpool took a flyer on the Scottish international in a £12 million deal that has paid dividends. Maguire got his big break when Marco Silva arrived, before being sold to Leicester for £17 million, and he now looks to be a regular for England. Whilst a £23 million+ profit represents excellent business by Hull City, they clearly sold the duo for less than their true value, and if you wanted to buy both now you’d probably be looking at an investment upwards of £150 million.
3. Cristiano Ronaldo and Kleberson
Back to a double-signing with a very clear winner and loser, Kleberson was the better known of the two Manchester United signings made on August 12th 2003, having won the World Cup with Brazil the previous summer. He cost the club £6.5 million, and was viewed as a replacement to Juan Sebastian Veron, but it was the £12.24 million fee paid to Sporting for Cristiano Ronaldo that really raised eyebrows.
Ronaldo was hot property, but even free-spending Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich baulked at that fee, which made him the most expensive teenager in the history of the English game. The Guardian pointed out at the time that United could have signed Ricardo Quaresma, apparently the more highly-rated of the two Sporting wide men, for less than half that fee. Sixteen years on, we can probably say Sir Alex was right on this one.
Ronaldo’s talent was obvious, but he arrived as a slim, flashy wide player who sometimes had more showmanship than substance. That would all change. After three good seasons, Ronaldo had three truly incredible campaigns, establishing himself as one of the best footballers on the planet. Manchester United eventually sold him in 2009 for a then world record fee of £80 million. The Portuguese superstar reached yet new heights at Real Madrid, laying a marker as not just one of the current but one of the all time greats, and even they managed to sell him for a profit to Juventus at the age of 33.
Kleberson was slightly less of a success. He was signed having neutralised the talents of Paul Scholes as Brazil beat England en-route to winning the 2002 World Cup, something Alex Ferguson knew few players could do, but he never hit it off at Old Trafford. He was injured early on, and only went on to register 30 appearances in two seasons with the club before leaving for Besiktas. He retired in 2016 after three years in the United States, and we would say Cristiano Ronaldo was the better signing between the two.
2. Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano
Carlos Tevez of Juventus Turin and Javier Mascherano of Barcelona in action during the UEFA Champions League Final between Juventus Turin and FC Barcelona at Olympiastadion on June 6, 2015…
As two of the most bizarrely brilliant signings ever in their own right, Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano arriving at West Ham under Alan Pardew as a double signing simply has to feature in this seven. Tevez and Mascherano were both 22, both had starred for Argentina at the 2006 World Cup and both were playing their club football in Brazil with Corinthians. Mascherano had been linked with Real Madrid and Barcelona, whilst there was talk of Chelsea doing all they could to snap up Tevez, with some reports suggesting a fee as large as £60 million.
West Ham’s chances of signing either of these two should have been on a par with Iain Dowie’s chances of wooing Selena Gomez, but in a deadline day deal shrouded in controversy, both players were brought to Upton Park in a stunning deal. Other clubs had been put off or had struggled to decipher the duos complicated ownership situation, with Media Sports Investments supposedly owning the rights to the two players rather than Corinthians themselves.
There was increased controversy over the fact that MSI, who supposedly held both players rights, were apparently interested in buying West Ham. The whole ordeal saw West Ham handed a record £5.5 million fine, but the furore particularly from Sheffield United was only increased after Tevez scored the goal which kept West Ham in the Premier League at the Blades’ expense and was named as Hammer of the Year.
In the end, the deals would come back to bite West Ham in a sense, who seemingly never held either players rights and reportedly pocketed just £2 million when Tevez left for Manchester United and Mascherano for Liverpool the following summer. Incredibly, Mascherano played just 5 league games all season and Alan Pardew supposedly didn’t rate him. He went on to win nine trophies and play more than 300 games for Barcelona. Tevez enjoyed success with Manchester United, Man City and Juventus, and is now back for his third stint with Boca Juniors, whilst Mascherano is playing for Hebei China Fortune in the Chinese Super League.
1. Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll
In top spot, simply because it will always be the most iconic double-signing in my mind at least, is that of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll. Liverpool had both a lack of attacking options and cash to burn following the then British record £50 million sale of Fernando Torres to Chelsea, and they identified Suarez and Carroll as their primary targets. Suarez would provide the energy, ingenuity and finishing touches, whilst Carroll would provide a focal point, so effective in the air and he’d shown himself to be prolific in the top flight for six months with Newcastle.
In theory it all made sense, but when the news of Carroll’s £35 million transfer fee broke out, many a laptop and phone were ruined as people spat their coffee all over them. Suarez at £22.8 million seemed like a reasonable risk, but Carroll seemed like reckless overspending. In the end, we couldn’t have known just how right we’d be. Suarez was absolutely sensational at Anfield, particularly in his third and fourth seasons preceding a £65 million move to Barcelona.
Carroll, meanwhile, who had just become the most expensive British footballer of all time and the eighth most expensive footballer from anywhere ever, we should add – scored 2 goals in 7 league games in his debut half campaign, and just 4 league goals in 35 outings in his first full season. He did score the winner in Liverpool’s FA Cup semi-final defeat of Merseyside rivals Everton, which Jamie Carragher described as being “worth £35 million in itself.” We’re not so sure, and Liverpool lost in the final to Chelsea.
Suarez has since gone on to establish himself as one of the finest centre-forwards of his generation at Barcelona, even putting an end to Messi and Ronaldo’s dominance over the La Liga Golden Boot in 2015-16. Carroll left Liverpool for West Ham for £17 million – plus a £2 million loan fee – which again proved to be a shocking deal. Carroll had his moments with the Hammers, but has had awful injury problems. He should be in his prime right now at 30, but was just released by the club, and it’s unclear where he’ll be next season.
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