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Featuring a water fight - sort of.

6 of the most weird & wonderful initiations in football history: Toney, Neymar, Terry…

Mitchell Wilks •

The buzz of signing for a new football club can very quickly be heightened or completely killed depending on how the welcome initiation goes down.

A transfer is seemingly never as simple as signing on the dotted line and taking to the pitch. Some players are greeted to heroic welcomes in the airport by rabid fans, others are snuck in through the back door or arrive to little fanfare.

One constant, though, is that first initiation. We’ve taken a look at six of the strangest initiations we’ve encountered in football.

Ivan Toney

After talking himself up and trying his best to angle for a move to one of Europe’s top clubs, Toney has instead found himself leaving for Brentford for Saudi Arabia.

It might not have been the move he hoped for or expected, but he won’t have any complaints now that he’s pocketing almost £1million-per-week at Al Ahli.

He also won’t mind putting up with seriously strange moments such as being serenaded by this man for that kind of money…

Ben Brereton Diaz

Before he ended up stuck in a void where he exists purely to sign for a newly-promoted Premier League side, Brereton-Diaz was signing for Villarreal off the back of a brilliant spell with Blackburn and a random rise to stardom with Chile.

What do you do when signing for a Spanish club and trying to convince teammates that you’re a natural fit, despite being born in Stoke-on-Trent? Easy, sing ‘Sweet Caroline’ of course.

Neymar

We should’ve known Toney was in for something weird considering Neymar’s Al Hilal initiated him with *checks notes* a waterfight.

They’re innovating in the Saudi Pro League, we’ll give them that much.

Georgia Stanway

In the same summer that England women made history when beating Germany at Wembley to win the women’s European Championship in 2022, Stanway signed for German giants Bayern Munich.

Her initiation? ‘Sweet Caroline’, sang by the English everywhere they go, often painfully. We really can’t think why the world doesn’t adore us.

READ NEXT: 7 brilliant footballers who peaked in their mid-30s: Di Natale, Vardy, Sheringham…

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John Terry

There’s so much going on here. We need a proper enquiry, actually.

Where have they found a chef with a guitar? Does he bring it to work every day? Who’s the unassuming holiday-goer in the background trying to get in on the Aston Villa buffet?

Ricardo Pepi

After making a high-profile transfer from FC Dallas to Augsburg in January 2022, rumours began to circle online that manager Markus Weinzierl urinated on Pepi as part of his initiation.

No, seriously. It was so serious that the club felt compelled to address the rumour, coming out and denying that it happened, instead explaining that Pepi was misquoted when being translated by the media.

That’s what any club would say if their manager was urinating on their new signings, in fairness. We’re onto you, Augsburg.

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