15 of the biggest hijacked transfers in football, ft. Ronaldo, Mudryk & Diaz | OneFootball

Manchester City look set to hijack the transfer of Declan Rice from West Ham to Arsenal.

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The transfer window is such an entertaining time to be a football fan, unless of course, your club is on the end of a hijacked transfer.

This summer looks set to be a very busy time with so many clubs looking to bring in new recruits, but only so many available players for the right price.

There is bound to be an overlap in club's ambitions and that appears to be the case when it comes to Rice.

Arsenal looked set to wrap up a deal for the Hammers midfielder, but now reports are emerging that City have got involved.

When the blue half of Manchester want a player, more often than not, they get that player.

There have been hijacked transfers before where a deal looks almost fully done, before a rival swoops in and takes control.

Here we take a look at the most famous examples of teams being gazumped by another club.

15 Jorginho - Napoli to Man City - hijacked by Chelsea (2018)

There is still hope for Arsenal in their Rice pursuit as shown by this example. City thought they had their man as they had terms all agreed.

Napoli manager, Maurizio Sarri, then moved to Chelsea and convinced the Italian to join him at Stamford Bridge.

14 Cody Gakpo - PSV to Man Utd - hijacked by Liverpool (2023)

Seemingly out of nowhere, it was announced in December 2022 that Gakpo would be moving to Liverpool.

This move came as a big shock to the football world due to Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag's well-documented interest in the player.

The Dutch connection was not enough in the end and Gakpo headed to Anfield.

13 Mykhaylo Mudryk - Shakhtar Donetsk to Arsenal - hijacked by Chelsea (2023)

Another recent hijacking occurred when London rivals went head-to-head for the Ukrainian's signature.

The Gunners were firm favourites to land Mudryk due to his reported admiration for the club, until Todd Boehly and Chelsea got involved.

Willing to part ways with more money, Chelsea completed the deal to stretch their spending further.

12 Fred - Shakhtar Donetsk to Man City - hijacked by Man Utd (2018)

Another incident of a hijacking against City. Earlier on in the same summer they were pursuing Jorginho, it was reported that City were closing in on a deal to sign Fred.

However, United had caught wind of this and gazumped their noisy neighbours' offer, paying £50m for the Brazilian midfielder who instead headed to Old Trafford.

11 Luis Diaz - Porto to Tottenham - hijacked by Liverpool (2022)

Jurgen Klopp loves to get one over on his rivals.

Liverpool had eyes on Diaz with a view to completing a deal to sign him in the summer. But when Tottenham approached Porto over a deal in January - and came close to closing a move - the Reds had to swoop in.

10 Arjen Robben - PSV to Man Utd - hijacked by Chelsea (2004)

Roman Abramovich started his ownership of Chelsea by signing Robben, who had previously held concrete discussions with Sir Alex Ferguson about a move to Old Trafford.

There appears to be something about United that puts off Dutch talent from PSV.

9 Ronaldinho - PSG to Man Utd - hijacked by Barcelona (2003)

Believe it or not, Ronaldinho was whiskers away from signing for United in 2003, but they essentially shot themselves in the foot, losing out on the majestic Brazilian legend.

United pursued the icon in an attempt to replace David Beckham, who signed for Real Madrid.

It turns out Barcelona's failure to tempt Beckham to the club led to their move for Ronaldinho.

8 Alfredo Di Stefano - Millonarios to Barcelona - hijacked by Real Madrid (1953)

The 27-year-old Argentine was plying his trade in Colombia when Europe came calling, in the form of Barcelona, whom he was adjudged to have signed with by FIFA, but not the Spanish Football Federation, who would not recognise the move after being consulted by FIFA.

Los Blancos eventually made their move and the rest is, as they say, history.

7 Paul Gascoigne - Newcastle to Man Utd - hijacked by Tottenham (1988)

Sir Alex Ferguson was a very well-known admirer of Gascoigne and believed a deal was going to be done.

However, Gascoigne had doubts over his playing time at the Theatre of Dreams with Bryan Robson and Neil Webb ahead of him in the pecking order, but was still headed to sign for the club. That was until Tottenham turned his head, offering to buy his family housing, which sealed the deal.

6 Cristiano Ronaldo - Juventus to Man City - hijacked by Man Utd (2021)

The homecoming of an iconic figure at the club was actually a move to deny him joining their fierce rivals.

It looked to be a formality that Ronaldo would be signing for the Citizens, but a chat with his former boss is believed to have helped him change his mind.

5 Alexis Sanchez - Arsenal to Man City - hijacked by Man Utd (2018)

Despite the change in success on the pitch, the historical giants of this rivalry have had the upper hand when moving for the same players.

Sanchez was desperate to leave the Emirates and decided to go with the higher salary offer and move to Old Trafford.

4 Robinho - Real Madrid to Chelsea - hijacked by Man City (2008)

This deal is famous for how close to the transfer deadline it occurred.

Chelsea had agreed personal terms with the explosive Brazilian before City gave Abramovich a taste of his own medicine and made a late offer.

3 Emmanuel Petit - Monaco to Tottenham - hijacked by Arsenal (1997)

Petit was in London to finalise his move to Spurs, speaking with then chairman Alan Sugar before leaving in a taxi that had been funded by his almost future employers.

Arsene Wenger - who had managed the Frenchman at Monaco - heard about the move, and got in touch at the eleventh hour urging him not to sign anything. Petit obliged, asking Sugar for more time to mull over the move as he left the meeting, but used the taxi paid for by Spurs to visit Wenger's house and instead sign for the Gunners.

2 John Obi Mikel - Lyn to Man Utd - hijacked by Chelsea (2006)

Upon turning 18, United announced they had agreed to sign the midfielder in April 2005 for a January 2006 arrival.

Chelsea then claimed to have agreed terms and were even accused of kidnapping the player by staff at Old Trafford.

They eventually agreed to pay a fee to both the other clubs involved and registered Mikel as their player.

1 Willian - Anzhi Mackhachkala to Tottenham - hijacked by Chelsea (2013)

This one is a double hijacking. Initially, Liverpool were front-runners in this race before Tottenham swooped in.

Spurs looked set to sign the Brazilian for £32m before Roman Abramovich again stepped in and turned the deal on its head, after Willian had already completed a medical.

He reportedly spent hours locked up at Tottenham's training ground before Daniel Levy conceded defeat, believing that Chelsea signed him merely to get one over on their London rivals.