The Best Bargain Transfers of All Time: Part One

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Tuesday, March 28, 2017

We all love a bargain, don’t we? In the crazy world of £80 million players and £350,000 per week wages, getting a fantastic deal is something every chairman aspires to achieve. But who has been the best value transfer of all time?

Spending big is the norm for top football clubs but spending peanuts and getting a world class star is the holy grail. In this series of articles, we look at some of the greatest bargain basement deals of all time. So, join us as we look at some of football’s greatest players who were snapped up on the cheap.

Demba Ba, 2011, Newcastle United – Free

“Steve Gerrard, Gerrard. He slipped on his f**king arse. He gave it to Demba Ba. Steve Gerrard, Gerrard.”

You can still hear this chant that immortalises Demba Ba every week, a slip by Liverpool’s favourite son, Steven Gerrard had allowed Demba to run on goal and score. This goal all but ended Liverpool’s title challenge that year. What made the situation worse for Gerrard was that he had previously tried to raise morale in a team huddle and shouted “We don’t let this f**king slip, We don’t let this f**king slip”.

Demba had started to attract attention from big clubs whilst he was playing for Hoffenheim in the Bunsesliga. He scored 37 goals in 97 appearances for the German club. Stoke City were allegedly ready to pay £7 million for his services but were spooked by reports of a degenerative knee condition. West Ham took a punt and offered Demba a pay as you play deal.

Demba scored 7 goals in 12 appearances, he joined Newcastle on a free transfer when West Ham were relegated and he refused their offer of a new contract.

At Newcastle, Demba was on fire! 29 goals in 54 appearances led to Chelsea signing him in a reported £7 million deal. As a footnote, Demba’s knee didn’t let him down and he currently plays for Turkish team Beşiktaş on loan from Shanghai Shenhua.

Ruud Gullit, 1995, Chelsea – Free

Ruud was a footballing superstar, his long flowing locks of hair made him instantly recognisable. in 1987 he moved from PSV to Milan for a world record transfer fee at the time (£6 million which eclipsed the £5 million paid for Maradona).

Despite a slow start and difficulty in adapting to English football, Gullit’s form would improve and he ended the season by being named runner-up to Eric Cantona as Footballer of the Year.

Ruud stated many times that the happiest he ever was in football was during his time at Chelsea and the love affair continued when Glenn Hoddle left Chelsea to become manager of the England national team; Gullit was appointed as player-manager.

With Gullit at the helm, Chelsea won the FA Cup in 1997. This was Chelsea’s first major trophy in 26 years, they also finished sixth in the Premier League (before this season, Chelsea had finished 11th, 14th, 11th, 14th, 11th and 11th). It looked like Ruud might lead Chelsea to bigger and better things.

The next season, Chelsea were sitting 2nd in the Premier League. Chelsea were also in the quarter finals in two cup competitions when he was sacked by the club’s board. It is alleged that Ruud had a disagreement with the club’s board over compensation.

Serial nasty guy, Chairman Ken Bates said of Gullit, “I didn’t like his arrogance – in fact I never liked him.” This was a sad way for the Club to end their relationship with a player and manager who brought them so much joy.

Jürgen Klinsmann, 1997, Tottenham – Free

The German talisman was Tottenham’s saviour in their struggle against relegation in 1997. This was Jürgen’s second spell at the club having signed from AS Monaco for £2 million in 1994.

The original transfer in 1994 was a surprising one in many respects, anti-German sentiment in England was strong at the time. This was partly due to Klinsmann having played for the West German national team that had knocked England out of the 1990 World Cup.

Klinsmann also had a reputation as a diver, something he was quick to take advantage of when celebrating a goal in his first game for Tottenham. A scintillating game against Sheffield Wednesday that finished 3-4. You can see the celebration here.

To show the fickle side of football, The Guardian newspaper ran a feature on Klinsmann called “Why I Hate Jürgen Klinsmann”. A short two months later and the same newspaper ran another article, this time the feature was called “Why I Love Jürgen Klinsmann”.

His no-nonsense style and combative nature endeared him to the Tottenham fans who would buy 150,000 shirts bearing his name. In this season, he would make 50 appearances and scored an incredible 30 goals, this tally would see him win the 1995 Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year. Sadly, for Tottenham fans, he moved to Bayern Munich at the end of the season.

1997 saw Tottenham in real danger of going down. When Gerry Francis resigned in November, Spurs were in the relegation zone. Christian Gross was named as Francis’s successor and one of his first acts was to re-sign Jürgen Klinsmann on a free transfer from Sampdoria. Spurs needed a miracle.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Jürgen Klinsmann played 18 games and scored 9 goals, these goals were instrumental in Tottenham avoiding relegation and they ended up in 14th place, missing the drop zone by 4 points. This was to be Klinsmann’s last season and he retired this season. A fitting way to end a great career.