The transfer of the five-time Champions League winner Isco to 1. FC Union Berlin burst shortly before the transfer window closed. The 30-year-old would not have been the only veteran to make a surprise move to the Bundesliga. An overview.
“We would have liked to have seen Isco with us, but we have our limits. Contrary to previous agreements, these were exceeded today, which is why the transfer will not take place,” said Union Berlin’s managing director Oliver Ruhnert on Isco’s failed change.
The Spaniard, who won the Golden Boy award in 2012 and won 19 titles in nine years with Real Madrid, had already completed and passed the medical check in the capital. Isco’s consulting agency Gestifute quoted the picture as follows: “In the course of the talks, we had to realize that our negotiating partner was no longer willing to move within the framework originally discussed.”
Isco to Union – that could have been a transfer that you will remember nostalgically in a few years like Raul and his time at FC Schalke 04 do today. He was a real hit in 2010 – but by no means the only veteran who surprisingly switched to the Bundesliga. A look back!
Raul (2010 free transfer from Real Madrid to FC Schalke 04)
No one will soon overshadow the change of the Real legend to the Ruhr area. July 28, 2010 went down in the history of the Knappen when the chairman of the supervisory board, Clemens Tönnies, and coach Felix Magath presented the world star.
Raul’s transfer turned out to be a complete success. The Spaniard was a top scorer (98 competitive games, 40 goals, 21 assists), leader and role model. When his two-year contract expired, he left Gelsenkirchen and went to Qatar. Schalke considered never giving Raul’s jersey number seven again – but Max Meyer got it in 2013.
Ruud van Nistelrooy (2010 free transfer from Real to HSV)
The third in the group, who switched to the Bundesliga with a glorious Real past. The striker got off to a great start in Hamburg: in his second game after being substituted on, he scored a brace within 90 seconds and secured HSV victory over VfB.
Van Nistelrooy was keen to use the winter transfer window to return to Los Blancos in his second season as Real showed interest in the 34-year-old given a lengthy absence of centre-forward Gonzalo Higuaín. However, HSV insisted that van Nistelrooy stay until the end of the contract.
The Dutchman then announced that he wanted to leave after his one-year contract ended – and he did. In the summer of 2011 he joined Malaga FC. Ultimately, he made 44 competitive appearances for HSV (17 goals, three assists).
Maniche (2009 free transfer from Atlético Madrid to 1. FC Köln)
The Portuguese, whose real name is Nuno Ricardo de Oliveira Ribeiro, came to Effzeh in a highly decorated manner. With FC Porto he won two championships, the cup, the UEFA Cup, the Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup under José Mourinho.
In Cologne, on the other hand, he seemed listless. Basically, Maniche was only remembered because he picture– Photographers in front of the Geißbockheim showed the middle finger. After a 30-game season (three goals, three assists), Maniche returned home to Sporting.
Jari Litmanen (2005 free transfer from FC Lahti to Hansa Rostock)
The then 33-year-old won the Champions League with Ajax Amsterdam in 1995, later he played for FC Barcelona and FC Liverpool. The Finn, a 137-time national player and an absolute legend in his homeland, signed on in Rostock for the winter break.
But he could not prevent relegation from the Bundesliga. Litmanen managed just one goal in 13 games. He then moved to Malmö and only ended his career in 2012 – as the only footballer to date to have played international matches in four different decades.
Youri Djorkaeff (1999 for 1.5 million euros from Inter to FCK)
A top performer from the French world champion team from 1998 suddenly in the Bundesliga – and that too in Kaiserslautern. Crazy for that time. And Djorkaeff delivered, was initially one of the best players in the league.
For the 31-year-old at the time of his move, previously active for Inter, PSG and Monaco, things quickly went downhill after the end of coach Otto Rehhagel. A quarrel with coach Andreas Brehme was the beginning of the end.
“In his eyes there was one world champion too many at this club,” said Djorkaeff of Brehme, 1990 World Cup winners with Germany. After that, the Frenchman only shone with listlessness and refused to learn German. After 70 games (18 goals, 14 assists) he went to Bolton Wanderers in 2002.
Mauro Camoranesi (2010 for two million euros from Juve to VfB)
After eight years at Juve, the native Argentinian, who played for Italy and became world champion in Germany in 2006, came to the Neckar – and experienced three coaches there in Bruno Labbadia, Jens Keller and Christian Gross.
His time with the Swabians ended after around five months and his contract was terminated prematurely. Camoranesi only played 14 competitive games for VfB, in which he collected a red card and three assists.
Davor Suker (2002 free transfer from West Ham to 1860 Munich)
In Croatia and later at FC Sevilla and Real Madrid, the Croatian striker scored like clockwork, and in 1998 he was top scorer at the World Cup. Immediately after that, things didn’t go well for Arsenal or the Hammers – so it went to the lions.
In his one and a half years in Munich, Suker made 30 competitive appearances for the then Bundesliga side, in which he scored eight goals and six assists. But the 34-year-old at the time of his move was finally pushed out of the starting line-up by Benjamin Lauth.
Abédi Pelé (1996 free transfer from FC Torino to 1860 Munich)
However, the lions had landed a real coup years before. The then 31-year-old Tener, father of André Ayew (Al-Sadd) and Jordan Ayew (Crystal Palace), was particularly successful at Olympique Marseille in the early 1990s, where he won the Champions League in 1993.
There is a legend that the three-time African Footballer of the Year, who has 73 caps for Ghana, did not know that there are two professional clubs in Munich. He reportedly thought he was going to Bayern Munich.
The supposed king transfer of the lions could not build on old successes in his two years on the Isar. After 57 competitive games (four goals, seven assists) it was over. “These were the best fans of all that I have experienced at my various stations,” said Pelé tz about his time at TSV.
Juan Pablo Sorin (2006 for €3 million from Villarreal to HSV)
The former captain of the Argentine national team played for Barca and PSG, among others, and came to the Elbe at the age of 30. He was one of the top earners there, but was quickly referred to in team circles as “the Argentine patient” due to his susceptibility to injury.
In the meantime, Sorin was out for eleven months with a knee injury. In July 2008, the contract, which was still valid for one year, was terminated prematurely, and Sorin received around one million euros as compensation. He only wore the HSV jersey in 27 competitive games (four goals, four assists).
Darko Pancev (1994 on loan from Inter to VfB Leipzig)
At Vardar Skopje and Red Star Belgrade, the native Macedonian shot everything short and small. In 1991 he won the European Cup and the World Cup with Red Star and won the Golden Shoe as Europe’s top scorer.
But Pancev couldn’t get his foot on the ground at Inter. So, at the age of 28, I went to the then Bundesliga team from Leipzig in the winter. The striker played there for half a year, but the Saxons were relegated.
Pancev only managed two goals and four assists in ten competitive games. But there were escapades off the field: first he moved into a suite in the Atlanta Hotel on his own initiative, later he skipped a TV appearance in the current sports studio. In the 1995/96 season, Pancev still played for Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Igor Belanov (1989 for 500,000 euros from Kyiv to Gladbach)
“I can only congratulate him on this transfer,” said Foal icon Günter Netzer about the 28-year-old Ukrainian, who won the Euro Cup Winners’ Cup with Kyiv three years earlier and was voted Europe’s Footballer of the Year.
Four games with four goals made you sit up and take notice at the beginning of the second half of the season, but the winger couldn’t build on his top form. He was caught stealing with his wife. A red card out of frustration ended his time in Gladbach. He then rose with Eintracht Braunschweig from the third division.
Igor Shalimov (1994 from Inter Milan to MSV Duisburg)
The Russian ten was not a world star, but two years earlier Inter had cost him twelve million euros – and suddenly he was playing at Wedau. At MSV, the national player kept flashing his skills.
However, the Meidericher team was simply not good enough to let the new playmaker shine. Duisburg were relegated and Shalimov remained without a goal in 22 competitive games (four assists). After one season he went to FC Lugano in Switzerland.
Nicklas Bendtner (2014 free transfer from Arsenal to Wolfsburg)
The attacker has been loaned out by the Gunners three times, including to Juventus. Above all, the Dane drew attention to himself with plenty of sayings and his enormous self-confidence. Wolfsburg gave him a three-year contract.
But things didn’t go well for Bendtner on the Mittelland Canal either. He attributed this to his bad relationship with coach Dieter Hecking. The “Lord’s” balance sheet: fine for a photo that showed him in front of a Mercedes, 45 minutes late in training, extra units in training camps due to lack of fitness. The contract was canceled in 2016.
Zé Roberto (2009 for four million euros from Montevideo to HSV)
Of course, the Brazilian was no stranger to his time in Leverkusen and at FC Bayern. But the fact that he would find his way to Hamburg again at the age of 35 came as a surprise to many. Zé Roberto actually wanted to stay at Bayern, but they only offered him a one-year contract.
At HSV there were two and the midfielder started well on the Elbe. After twelve matchdays he had already scored five goals and three assists. After 72 competitive games it ended like in Munich: Zé Roberto did not accept the one-year contract that was offered.
