Ashley Cole and
William Gallas
Gallas moved to Arsenal in 2006 in a deal involving left-back Cole's transfer to
Chelsea, with the
Gunners receiving an additional £5m. Prior to his move, the Blues claimed Gallas had threatened to score own goals to force his departure, but the former France centre back denied the allegation. In his four years at
Arsenal, Gallas fell out with
Kolo Toure and
Samir Nasri and, while club captain, threw a strop during a match against Birmingham in 2008, sitting down in the middle of the pitch close to tears. Ashley Cole, however, has been one of Chelsea's best players, playing in more than 250 games, winning a
Premier League trophy, three FA Cups and the
Champions League, scoring in the shoot-out win over Bayern.
Andy Cole and Keith Gillespie
In a move that took everyone by surprise,
Newcastle swapped star striker Andy Cole for Man United winger Keith Gillespie, plus £6m in 1995. At Old Trafford, Cole won five Premier League titles, a Champions League winners medal and finished with 121 goals in 275 games. At Newcastle, Gillespie was a key figure in the very entertaining mid-'90s side that finished runners-up to Man United twice and, after leaving the
Toon in 1998, made a handful of appearances for clubs including Blackburn, Charlton,
Sheffield United, Leicester and Bradford. Now 37, he plays for Longford Town in the League of Ireland First Division. Cole finished his Old Trafford career in 2001, retired from
football in 2008 and now works for the club as an ambassador.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Samuel
In 2009 Barcelona and Inter came to an agreement that saw Sweden striker Ibrahimovic move to Spain, plus £35m, with the much loved Samuel Eto'o going to Italy. It proved to be an expensive mistake for Barca, when Ibrahimovic fell out with manager Pep Guardiola and, despite scoring 16 goals in 29 games, he was loaned back to Italy a year later, this time to Milan. To rub salt into the wound, Eto'o and Inter knocked Barca out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage. Eto'o, who won three La Liga titles and two Champions League trophies at Barcelona, played a key role as Inter clinched a league, cup and Champions League treble, before cashing in and moving to mega rich
Anzhi Makhachkala in 2011.
Jermain Defoe and
Bobby Zamora
Tottenham signed Defoe from West Ham for £7m plus Zamora in 2004 and in his first full season the diminutive striker was on target 22 times for
Spurs. Currently in his second spell at White Hart Lane, he became the 16th player to reach 100 goals when he scored against
West Brom in 2011 and in 2009 joined
Alan Shearer and Andy Cole as one of only three players to have scored five in one Premier League match, though
Dimitar Berbatov has since joined that list. Zamora, whose only goal for the north Londoners came against the
Hammers in a 2003 League Cup tie, scored 33 league goals in 90 starts, including the winner that won West Ham promotion from the Championship in 2005 as West Ham beat Cardiff. He moved to
Fulham in 2008 and starred as the
Cottagers reached the 2010
Europa League final.
James Beattie and Kevin
England manager Roy Hodgson was in charge of Blackburn when they paid
Southampton £7.5m for Davies in 1998 and also threw in James Beattie, too, but it was
Saints that got the better end of the deal. Davies managed just one league goal all season at Ewood Park, while Beattie scored five as Southampton escaped relegation. Rovers went down, with Davies moving back to the Dell, this time being swapped for Egil Ostenstad in 1999. Beattie stayed at Southampton until 2005, scoring 68 goals.
Fabio Cannavaro and Fabian Carini
Juventus certainly got the better end of this deal in 2004, which saw Inter defender and future World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro swapped for goalkeeper Fabian Carini. Uruguayan Carini ended up playing just a handful of games as he failed to dislodge Francesco Toldo or Julio Cesar from between the sticks, before being shipped off to Murcia in Spain. Cannavaro, fresh from a World Cup win and Ballon d'Or award, left for
Real Madrid in 2006 following the Italian football scandal. At Juventus, though, he formed a formidable backline with players like Lilian Thuram, Gianluca Zambrotta and Gianluigi Buffon in goal.
Francesco Coco and Clarence Seedorf
Two years prior to Cannavaro and Carini's swap, Inter came off worse in another deal. The Nerazzuri gave rivals Milan a gift in the shape of Clarence Seedorf, a player who already had two Champions League winners medal in his cabinet following spells at Ajax and Real Madrid prior to his move to Italy. In return Inter received Coco, an Italian defender and well known party boy, but injuries disrupted his time in the blue and black stripes. He retired in 2007 at the age of 30 with the intention of cracking Hollywood, while Seedorf won another two Champions Leagues and added two Serie A titles with Milan. He left at the end of the 2011/12 season for Brazilian club Botafogo.
Bonus swap deal: Tony Cascarino for some tracksuits
In January 1982,
Gillingham swapped training equipment and some tracksuits for Kent side Crockenhill FC's Tony Cascarino, who later said: “I was always led to believe that Crockenhill couldn't get a fee for me as I wasn't actually under contract, so as a gesture,
Gillingham offered cones, balls and other training equipment, which they accepted.” Similarly, in 1999, Fulham chairman Mohamed Al-Fayed swapped 30 tracksuits for non-league Rushall Olympic's
Zat Knight and a set of weights were exchanged between Greenwich Borough and
Crystal Palace for
Ian Wright in 1985.
