Viktor Gyokeres might have helped force through his Arsenal move by threatening to go on strike at Sporting. This lot tried that tactic and failed miserably.
With Gyokeres willing to forego millions to secure his Arsenal transfer, the Swede’s desperation to join the Gunners is clear.
It has been suggested throughout this summer that the forward was willing to go as far as taking strike action at Sporting to secure his departure.
These players took a similar stance but saw it backfire.
Harry KaneThe actual Sir Alex Ferguson once described “that whole experience” of extracting Dimitar Berbatov from Spurs as “more painful than my hip replacement”, so a man with a motorcycle and tyre tracks in the office from where he handles the business of his one solitary client stood little chance.
Perhaps Kane had theoretically earned the opportunity to branch out after scoring 221 goals in 336 trophyless Tottenham games by summer 2021. But as he and his agent brother would discover over the course of a few painful months, sentiment and supposed gentleman’s agreements do not hold up in contractual law.
Kane’s desperate rush for the north London exit included a leisurely stroll with Gary Neville in which he ignored the three years left on his watertight contract to pretend his future was “ultimately going to be down to me and how I feel and what’s going to be the best for me and my career this moment in time,” as well as the weaponisation of The Sun’s front page.
Levy, entirely unmoved by a bidding war involving only a half-arsed Manchester City already moving funds around to afford a nine-figure fee for Jack Grealish, stood firm with a £160m valuation he knew would not be met.
And whoever advised camp Kane that reporting for pre-season duty five days later than planned – wrapping that mystery up in Covid test and communication breakdown excuses – could force Levy’s hand was wonderfully misguided.
Kane insisted he “would never, and have never, refused to train”, was fined two weeks’ wages, missed the first game of the season and then bravely pretended it was his decision to stay for two more years, by which point Levy felt guilt-ridden enough to step aside – after some obstructions of his own.
Virgil van DijkIt is worth remembering just how thoroughly John Aldridge soiled himself at Moises Caicedo essentially choosing to join Chelsea and not reneging on that handshake deal even when Liverpool had a bid accepted, especially when he basically suggested Van Dijk go on strike to force his Southampton exit six years before.
Van Dijk himself was “insulted by the suggestion that it was me who refused to train,” but Southampton docked their captain’s pay and earned a grovelling apology from Liverpool after their conduct in pursuing the Dutchman was deemed to have crossed the line.
Having cited a recent ankle injury as helping him “realise just how important it is to take major opportunities should they arise,” Van Dijk was made to swallow his pride and return to the first team by September, when Southampton had double-checked the locks on the transfer window.
Likely realising he might as well knuckle down until the winter, Van Dijk started 11 consecutive Premier League games for Saints – including a 4-1 thrashing by Liverpool – but ended up being dropped before succumbing to an impeccably-timed injury days before his move to Anfield was finally confirmed.
Morgan SchneiderlinThere is a modicum of sympathy for Southampton players in the mid-2010s who discovered their way out was blocked, considering how willingly so many of their peers were offloaded.
Schneiderlin would get his move, but a year later than planned and to a deeply transitional Manchester United rather than the upwardly-mobile Spurs.
“I told them I signed for a project that was supposed to keep the best elements in order to go higher,” the midfielder said of crunch talks with executives in late July 2014.
“Before that meeting, Lallana, Lovren, Lambert, Shaw and Chambers all left,” he added, claiming he told Saints: “I never say anything, but I can’t stay in a team that plays for survival. I need to reach a new level.”
Schneiderlin kindly posted his minutes from that meeting on Twitter, claiming ‘6 years of an amazing journey #saintsfc DESTROYED in 1 hour !!!’ after being informed he would not be part of the St Mary’s exodus following Mauricio Pochettino’s departure.
The subsequent strike lasted all of a single pre-season friendly against Leverkusen for which Schneiderlin “refused” to make himself available. By the season’s opening game he was back in the fold.
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Pierre van HooijdonkAfter rejecting a lucrative Celtic contract renewal on the grounds “it may be good enough for the homeless, but not for an international striker,” there was intense interest about where Van Hooijdonk would become a working-class hero in March 1997.
The answer was an increasingly desperate Nottingham Forest, who broke their transfer record to sign the Dutchman in the forlorn hope he could drag them to Premier League safety for £4.5m.
One goals in eight appearances could not prevent a slide down to the First Division, but a season in the second tier only seemed to solidify a burgeoning relationship between player and club.
Van Hooijdonk scored 34 goals to inspire Forest to an immediate promotion, earn a place in the Netherlands squad for World Cup ’98 and attract £7m interest from Newcastle and PSV.
But Dave Bassett setting a £10m asking price did not go down well, especially in conjunction with the combined £5m sale of strike partner Kevin Campbell and key defender Colin Cooper despite the club having pledged to strengthen in the summer.
Van Hooijdonk, who has since equated it to “trying to sell a cappuccino for £25 – it’s for sale, but nobody will touch it,” returned to the Netherlands in protest and would not return to the City Ground until November, by which point Forest were in deep enough relegation bother for Bassett to put aside his “disgust” at the player’s insubordination.
His six goals in 19 games failed to turn things around and were also barely celebrated by his exasperated teammates, among whom was Steve Stone who explained how he “couldn’t give a shit what Pierre does next” when asked about the individual industrial action.
The end of the season could not come soon enough for any party. Forest finished bottom and Van Hooijdonk was offloaded to Vitesse for half what Newcastle offered a year prior.
“People can say I went on strike but I believe nobody can say that as a colleague and a professional I was an asshole,” Van Hooijdonk said recently. He can brand Robin van Persie as such, though.