Summer Transfer Window: The 5 Most Ridiculous Transfer Rumors This Summer

In the modern day summer transfer market, big clubs are constantly linked with moves for the biggest players in the world for exorbitant amounts of money.

Million of pounds come and go between the biggest European teams as each team attempts to strengthen its squad for the long domestic and European season ahead.

In the process, rumors about potential sales and purchases by each club fill up the tabloids of newspapers and forums all over the Internet. Some come to fruition, others fade away.  

However, there are always those transfer rumors that stand above the rest. There are those rumors make the buying clubs look like complete idiots and leave fans scratching their heads as to what their club was thinking in considering pursuing such one-sided deals.

The trade for Ibrahimovic by Barcelona prior to the 2009-10 season is one such deal that comes to mind.

There are also those rumors that make the selling club look ridiculous, and weaken their squad so tremendously that the team effectively falls out of the upper echelon of European teams and has its performance negatively impacted for not just a season but years to come.

Xabi Alonso's transfer to Real Madrid from Liverpool prior to the 2009-10 season is one deal that fits this category.

And finally, there are those rumors that just don't make sense. These are a lot rarer, but every once in a while we will hear of a talented player in his prime deciding to move to Qatar for a big pay day or of a player wanting to move back home over claims of homesickness despite being in the best form of his career.

Over the next five slides, we'll take a look at five such transfer rumors from this summer and break down what exactly makes them so outrageous.

Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona for £40 Million

This rumor is actually practically a done deal, as multiple reports have confirmed that Alexis Sanchez will officially become a Barcelona player in the coming days. According to a report from SkySports, Udinese's Spanish representative, has said this about the deal:

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 "Alexis has decided to play in Spain, and now the matter is practically closed."

"

There are multiple reasons why I have decided to include this rumor/deal on this list and believe it is ridiculous.

First, there is doubting that Alexis Sanchez is a good player, but is he great? His scoring record certainly doesn't indicate that this is the case.

In 239 career games, Alexis Sanchez has only scored 43 times and last season was the first season of his career that he hit double figures with 12 goals.

For a wing-forward, those numbers aren't great and pale in comparison to the production of Barcelona's current starting wing-forwards. Pedro last season scored 22 goals, and David Villa scored 23. 

And in the assist department, Alexis Sanchez is also good, but not great. Ten assists last season puts him right in between David Villa's nine and Pedro's 11 assists.

So, for a good winger-forward, with decent production stats, Barcelona are paying more than £40 million. To me, that screams ridiculousness.  

But secondly, as I've discussed in other articles of mine, Barcelona have no actual need for the guy!

This transfer will likely go down in history as the most money ever spent on a player who is being brought in to be nothing more than a rotation player.

Of course he brings depth to a position that Barcelona aren't exactly loaded in, but certainly they could've stuck with Bojan or Jeffren or simply brought in cheaper players to come off the bench, rather than spend their entire reported transfer budget on a player who won't/shouldn't make the starting 11.

Barcelona are generally renowned and acclaimed for their dedication and trust in their youth and their lack of overindulgence or wastefulness in the transfer market.

However, this is one transfer that will certainly leave a good number of Barcelona fans scratching their heads in confusion. 

Neymar to Anzhi Makhachkala for £41 Million

Although the Neymar transfer saga has gone mostly quiet since both Santos and Neymar made clear their intentions to remain together until at least the ending of the Club World Cup, that fact hasn't prevented Roberto Carlos from attempting to persuade the Brazilian prodigy to join him at Anzhi in Russia.

Unlike the first rumor, this one isn't on this list because of price. Indeed, even in today's inflated transfer market, £41 million is not a bad price to pay for one of the biggest talents in the world with the potential to one day be the best player in the world.

With a career goal ratio of one goal for ever two games for Santos, and three goals in only seven caps for the Brazilian national team, at only the age of 19, Neymar is truly on the path to become a legend.

The reason that this rumor is on this list is because, quite simply, future legends don't play their football in Russia.

Russia has been, for years now, becoming a better home for football. It has a well-developing domestic league and of course will be hosting the World Cup in 2018. It is definitely moving up the world football ladder.

That being said, it is still far from being included in the discussion of the elite of Europe in football.

CSKA Moscow and Zenit, currently the two best clubs in Russia, are still unable to challenge the giants of Europe like Manchester United, Chelsea, Inter, Real and Barcelona and usually end up knocked out in the Round of 16 at the latest.

Considering Anzhi have yet to establish supremacy over their domestic competition and are still figuring out how to best organize the squad bankrolled by billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, such a move would be a major step back in the young Brazilians career.

For that reason, the rumor is ridiculous but thankfully has almost no chance of happening, even if Roberto Carlos claims to have talked to Neymar extensively about the idea.

Javier Pastore to "Unnamed Club" for €50 Million

Although this rumor has gone somewhat cold since first being announced, it certainly is worth mentioning and could definitely pick up again if Pastore is given the opportunity to shine for Argentina at Copa America.

Back in June, Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini claimed that a €50 million offer had been made for the club's prized asset, Javier Pastore.

Zamparini refused to release the names of the bidding clubs at first, leading to Pastore being linked with nearly every big European club. Eventually, in a follow-up report, Zamparini narrowed the list down somewhat: 

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"Pastore will go to England or Spain, but I'd exclude Barcelona, because they already have (Andres) Iniesta and Xavi in that position.

"The favourites are Real Madrid and Malaga. Manchester City are also interested in him, as well as Manchester United and Chelsea. I'm sorry to let him go, because he is the only world-beater that I have had (at the club) as president."

"

Javier Pastore is a similar case to Alexis Sanchez. He's another young player with potential who has come off a good, but not great season with a decent but not great Serie A club.

However, there are key differences. For one, Javier Pastore's 14 goals and six assists in the 2010-11 Serie A season are much more impressive given he plays in an attacking midfield role for Palermo and not as winger or forward where goals are expected to come naturally.

On the other hand, whereas Sanchez is a regular contributor to the Chilean National Team, with 14 goals in 39 appearances, Pastore has been brought on as a sub in practically every national team game he's played in and has failed to score a goal in nine caps for Argentina.

Since the list of clubs in the running for the player still stands at five, its hard to comment as to exactly how ridiculous a possible transfer would be.

If Pastore were to go to Malaga, it would be a huge transfer coup for the club, whereas if he were to go to Real Madrid, it would a ridiculous waste of money as he'd be third in the pecking order at attacking midfielder with Ozil and Kaka ahead of him and Neymar possibly joining in the future to play in that same position or slightly more forward.

However, regardless of whatever club he ends up joining, Pastore will be sold for considerably more than he should or would've been sold for just a few seasons earlier, and Zamparini will be cashing in well on his Argentinian star.

Wesley Sneijder to Manchester United for €40 Million

Until recently, all the papers would talk about was the potential move of Nasri from Arsenal to Manchester United.

Thus, when Sir Alex Ferguson closed the door on a move for Nasri and claimed that the Arsenal midfielder had already agreed to a move elsewhere, most of the football world was stunned and confused as to where else Manchester United would look to replace the hole in the midfield left by the retirement of Paul Scholes.

They didn't have to stay confused for very long.

Reports of Manchester United chasing Wesley Sneijder quickly intensified, and today Goal.com has revealed that a delegation led by chief executive David Gill has flown to Milan to finalise a deal for Wesley Sneijder.

The developing transfer saga is anything but straightforward however. Conflicting reports indicate that Inter Milan have no intention of selling the midfielder, and even the midfielder has come out and stated that he would like to remain at Inter and is very happy at the club.

However, if Inter truly had no intention of selling the midfielder, and had made this abundantly clear to Manchester United, its unlikely that Manchester United would be sending a delegation to the club to discuss a potential transfer of the player.

So for argument's sake, we'll consider that there is a chance that the transfer could materialize. 

To be frank, this transfer would easily be the biggest transfer of the summer if it went through. Manchester United have been sorely lacking creativity in their midfield and won't find a more creative midfielder available for transfer than Sneijder.

The transfer could easily take them back to the Ronaldo years, where Manchester United destroyed the competition domestically and on the European level and were only stopped by Barcelona, arguably the best side in history at the time.

On the other hand, if Inter were to lose Sneijder, there is almost no doubt that they would struggle immensely in the coming seasons.

Inter's midfield is already crowded with boring, unimaginative central midfielders who are solid but unspectacular (think Muntari, Mariga, Motta, Stankovic, etc), and losing Sneijder would mean losing the one and only true creative game-changer the team has.

The team would probably still qualify for the Champions League, but its unlikely that they'd be able to surpass Milan in the league, and on the European stage would probably find themselves regularly bowing out at the quarterfinals stage of the Champions League.

For the sake of Inter and its fans, Massimo Moratti must see that Sneijder is worth much more than €40 million to Inter Milan and turn down the offer. Otherwise, Inter Milan could easily drop out of contention for the biggest trophies in football.

Carlos Tevez to Real Madrid for £25 Million Plus Karim Benzema/Gonzalo Higuain

If the opening picture didn't give it away, Carlos Tevez and Real Madrid jointly win the award for most ridiculous transfer rumor.

According to a report from Goal.com, Madrid have opened discussions with Manchester City regarding the possible transfer of Carlos Tevez for £25 million and either Karim Benzema or Gonzalo Higuain.

Excuse me...what?

Mourinho is thinking about giving one of the two best strikers in the world, with loads of potential, PLUS £25 million, for a striker who is already at his highest level and wants to return to Argentina? 

I've got to be missing something.

Personally, I wouldn't even give just Karim Benzema or Gonzalo Higuain for Carlos Tevez. As I've already hunted at, loyalty to the club is a big factor, and whereas Benzema and Higuain are happy and settled in Madrid, Carlos Tevez is simply a ticking timebomb waiting to go off before he starts complaining about mistreatment, homesickness, etc.

Moreover, Carlos Tevez is one of the few players I know who I can immediately tell would not thrive as well in La Liga as he does in the Premier League. Carlos Tevez, despite his small size, is built to take abuse and outmuscle the defense.

Technical ability and intelligent passing aren't Carlos Tevez's strong suits, and so he would struggle to achieve the same level of effectiveness he had in the Premier League in La Liga.

And finally, as I also already mentioned, Karim Benzema and Gonzalo Higuain both have loads more potential than Carlos Tevez.

Karim Benzema, after getting over his early rough patch as the starting striker for Real Madrid, quickly picked up steam and went scored 14 goals in his last 18 league games, including three braces in a row.

He has matured and developed very well over the last season and will only get better from here on out.

As for Gonzalo Higuain, this past season was filled with injury troubles for him, but in his two prior seasons, Higuain showed that he had what it takes to be one of the best strikers in the world and prior to this season, has shown improvement in his previous four seasons with Real Madrid.

Assuming he can stay healthy, there is little doubt that he will be able to return to being the Higuain of old, and maybe even continue to improve.

Thus, for Real Madrid to trade one of these future world-beaters and a huge sum of cash for Carlos Tevez makes absolutely no sense.

And even futher, Mourinho has stated that he wants to add another striker to his squad, so to splash the cash only to exchange a striker for another makes even less sense for him based on his words.

Hopefully, Real and Mourinho will allow these rumors to die and steer clear of Carlos Tevez, otherwise Mourinho could seriously hurt his chances of challenging Barca's league and European supremacy this season.  

The End

That's it folks, the five most ridiculous transfer rumors of the summer.

Any candidates you think should've been included on the list? Let me know in the comments section, and we'll discuss it. If enough solid candidates are suggested, I may make an Honorable Mentions slide.

Please do not mention completed deals though, this thread is only intended to deal with rumors.

Thanks for reading!