5 legendary footballers we can’t believe never commanded a transfer fee: Messi, Raul…
In an era where value in the market basically no longer exists and prices are inflated beyond the realms of comprehension, you’ll be shocked to hear that some of the game’s greatest players have never once commanded a transfer fee.
Your dad continues to bang on about how ‘£60million is the new £20million’ and while he doesn’t have to remind you every day, he makes a very valid point. With how silly transfers have become, a free transfer just hits that bit more sweet when a club strikes a deal for nothing.
There is an exclusive club of ballers, though, who went their entire careers without commanding a transfer fee at all, be it through coincidence, circumstances or just because they were so good that they were deemed priceless. Read on to find out who.
Lionel Messi
Like we just alluded to, you simply cannot put a price on the GOAT.
Messi’s big move from Newell’s Old Boys to Barcelona when he was just 13 was signed and sealed on a napkin – literally – and he’d spent the next 21 years with the Catalan giants developing into possibly the greatest player football will ever witness.
He probably should’ve retired at Barcelona, but a complete financial implosion saw them unable to renew his contract in 2021. That made Messi available on a free transfer, but with such astronomical wages, Paris Saint-Germain was his only viable destination in Europe.
He then left Paris – and Europe – to sign for Inter Miami on a free transfer after two seasons.
Esteban Cambiasso
A glorious midfielder in his pomp who won league titles in Argentina, Spain and Italy with some of the game’s biggest clubs, it’s a surprise to hear that Cambiasso never moved for a transfer fee, but it’s also true. Walk with us.
The Argentine’s first move was to Real Madrid in his youth, where he returned to after a brief spell back in Argentina. In 2004, his contract with Real expired, allowing Cambiasso to move to Inter for nothing.
It was with the Nerazzurri that he truly found his groove, spending the next decade of his career with the club and making over 400 appearances.
He stunned just about everyone in 2014 when, upon the expiry of his contract, he signed a one-year deal with newly promoted Premier League side Leicester City, playing under Nigel Pearson and making 33 appearances in all competitions as they narrowly avoided relegation.
He turned down a deal offered at the end of the season to spend the final two years of his career with Olympiacos, missing out on the Foxes Premier League title win.
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Raul
Born in Madrid and a product of the Real Madrid academy, Raul is the very epitome of a club legend and a hometown hero.
Scoring 323 goals for Real which currently has him sitting third in the club’s all-time scoring rankings, Raul debuted with the first team in 1994 and left in 2010 having also lifted six La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues.
Crucially, he left upon the expiry of his contract, meaning Schalke signed him without having to pay a transfer fee.
After two years in Germany, where he helped Die Königsblauen reach the Champions League semi-final before losing to Manchester United, Raul moved on again to play in Qatar with Al Sadd, before wrapping up his career in the United States with the New York Cosmos in 2015.
All for free. Bargain.
Steve McManaman
Apologies for subjecting you to more McManaman than needed, but when he’s not being mildly infuriating on commentary over Champions League classics, it’s quite fun to reminisce about how magnificent a footballer he actually was.
He became only the second English player to play for Real Madrid after Laurie Cunningham when he signed on a free transfer in 1999, having spent nine years at Liverpool before that.
He won the Champions League in his first season, scoring in the final and immersing himself in Spanish culture to successfully win over the fans and the club.
The winger eventually left Madrid in 2003 when his contract expired and returned to England with Manchester City, spending two years with the club before retiring.
George Best
Perhaps a surprise given his abilities but also how many clubs he played for, football’s original superstar spent the best 11 years of his career with Manchester United winning the lot and standing at the top of the mountain, but also coming down it by the end.
Best left the club in 1974 as they were relegated from the First Division.
While Tomm Docherty’s Red Devils were ready to bounce back in the second tier, Best headed to South Africa to play for Jewish Guild; the first of many short-lived transfers in a spiralling post-United career as he became a shadow of his former self.
He played five times before heading back to the United Kingdom and Ireland, where he would turn out in the fourth tier for Stockport County, Irish side Cork City and a spell with Fulham where he momentarily looked to have regained some form.
Best’s career after United also took him to the United States and back, playing for the Los Angeles Aztecs, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and the San Jose Earthquakes.
All of his moves at this time were extremely short-lived and often only lasted a season at a time at the most, before his retirement in the mid-1980s.