Willian next? £86m Chelsea, Spurs pair among six players who joined (and left) clubs in same window

Willian’s attempted betrayal of Fulham inspired us to do some digging to find six more players who joined (and left) clubs in the same transfer window…

The former Arsenal flop’s unexpected resurgence last season fuelled a battle between Fulham and Nottingham Forest for his services before the 34-year-old settled on a fresh one-year deal at Craven Cottage last month. 

Fulham are being f***ed over by the Saudi Pro League this summer with Alexsandar Mitrovic having his heart set on a move to the Middle East and a mere few weeks after penning a new contract, Willian has been a snake and has agreed terms with Al Shabab. The Brazillian will not be the first player to sign for a club only to leave during the same window… 

Benik Afobe (Wolves and Stoke City)
Wolves played an absolute blinder with Afobe in the summer of 2018.

The striker scored six goals in 16 games while on loan with Nuno Espirito Santo’s side in 2017/18 as they finished on 99 points to win the Championship at a canter.

Wolves activated a £10m purchase option to buy Afobe permanently before their Premier League return only to capitalise on Stoke City’s reckless spending to offload the striker a few weeks later for £12m.

The ex-Arsenal academy product only scored nine goals in 51 appearances for Stoke, so it’s fair to say that he did not live up to his price tag for the Potters. Wolves meanwhile laughed their way to the bank as they cashed in their cheeky £2m profit.

Marc Cucurella (Eibar and FC Barcelona)
The one-time Spain international is no stranger to a major transfer, with Chelsea having their pants pulled down by Brighton en route to the Blues last summer paying £60m to sign a defender who only cost their rivals £15m a year earlier.

Like many of his new Chelsea teammates, Cucurella endured a poor debut season at Stamford Bridge but he has not yet been sent packing to Saudi Arabia like Kalidou Koulibaly. So at least there’s that.

Prior to the defender’s mixed spell in the Premier League, he was signed by Spanish duo Eibar and Barcelona in the summer of 2019. Eibar activated their £1.7m purchase option to sign Cucurella from Barcelona after he was initially on loan. But unfortunately for Eibar, the La Liga giants negotiated their own £3.5m buy-out clause that would enable them to re-sign Cucurella in the future.

Man City have recently done a similar thing with Liverpool target Romeo Lavia who shone for Southampton last term. These clauses are not usually activated for a year or two, but Barcelona are renowned for their puzzling transfer business and they brought Cucurella back from Eibar before he even had the chance to unpack his locker.

Martin Demichelis (Atletico Madrid and Man City)
Before City were blessed with the presence of serial winner Pep Guardiola, the likeable Manuel Pellegrini was in charge at the Etihad.

The former West Ham boss took over at Man City in 2013 after leaving Spanish side Malaga and one of his first acts was to secure a reunion with Demichelis.

The centre-back also left Malaga that summer as he signed for rivals Atletico Madrid upon the expiry of his contract. But he did not make a single appearance for the La Liga outfit before completing his £4.2m move to Man City.

Demichelis is arguably most remembered for being sent nearer to retirement by an 18-year-old Marcus Rahsford, who left the veteran red-faced and sprawled on the floor in a Manchester derby during the defender’s debut season. He retired in 2017 (a year after leaving City) and he’s now the manager of boyhood club River Plate, which is nice.

READ MORE: Top ten Spaniards in Premier League history ranked as Liverpool and Man City icons take places

Dietmar Hamman (Bolton and Man City)
Before making a living through his poor takes as a pundit (his insistence that Thiago Alcantara is “overrated” is laughable, really), he spent 11 years in the Premier League with Newcastle United, Liverpool, Bolton Wanderers and Man City between 1998 and 2009.

In the summer of 2006, the German international penned a pre-contract agreement with Bolton before drama ensued. The now-League One outfit announced that ‘Hamann signed a contract’ but ‘he had a change of heart and will sign for another football club within the next 24 hours’.

The club in question were Man City, who were made to pay £400,000 as compensation to secure his services. Hamann played 71 times for the Citizens over three seasons and after starting off at Bayern Munich, he ended his career as a player/coach at MK Dons.

This was quite the fall from grace for Hamann, but it was pretty apt as he’s since floundered as a League Two-level pundit.

Emerson Royal (FC Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur)
Tottenham’s decision to sign Royal really grows more baffling by the day…

Barcelona surely could not have believed their luck when Spurs made the daft call to pay around £26m to sign him in 2021 just after he returned to the Spanish giants from Real Betis for a much lower fee of £7.7m.

The erratic full-back played just three times for Barcelona before was snapped up by Spurs on August 31 and this had all the hallmarks of a deadline day panic buy.

The 24-year-old has been found out in a Tottenham shirt and he heads into Ange Postecoglou’s first season in charge behind Pedro Porro in the pecking order.

David Unsworth (Aston Villa and Everton)
‘Rhino’ was a fan of his home comforts during his playing career. After coming through the ranks at Everton and spending five seasons in their first team, he lasted a single year in London with West Ham before he joined Aston Villa in 1998.

A switch to Villa saw Unsworth move nearer to home, but the West Midlands outfit were not located near enough to Chorley for the 49-year-old’s (or his wife’s) liking.

Aston Villa paid £3m to sign Unsworth from West Ham but he returned to Everton for a second spell at Goodison Park later that summer.

This came after he was reportedly “advised” by his better half to get out of his Villa deal and head back to Everton. And not wanting to risk his wife’s wrath, Unsworth obliged and his boyhood club paid the Villans £3m to get him back.

READ MORE: Saudi Arabia transfers… Another world-record bid and Willian betrays Fulham for Saint-Maximin wage