Paul Scholes has picked one of his old Manchester United teammates as the third-biggest traitor in football history.
There are some unwritten rules in football that fans take very seriously. Right at the top of that list is leaving a club to sign for their direct rivals.
Several footballers have missed that memo in the past. See Emmanuel Adebayor running the length of the pitch just to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans after leaving them for Manchester City. Or Rio Ferdinand swapping Leeds United for Manchester United.
But who are the biggest traitors football has ever seen? Well, Paul Scholes attempted to answer that by ranking the top five alongside Nicky Butt on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast. See his top five below.
5 William Gallas (Chelsea/Arsenal/Tottenham)
William Gallas Chelsea
William Gallas was an eccentric character on the football pitch. That's why his decision to tour London's biggest clubs went under the radar.
He was involved in the deal that saw Ashley Cole join Chelsea from Arsenal in 2006, with Gallas going the other way. The centre-back went one step further in 2010 when he moved to the white side of north London on a free transfer, joining Tottenham directly from Arsenal.
4 Michael Owen (Liverpool/Manchester United)
Action Images / Ed Sykes
Scholes was at Man Utd for long enough to see Michael Owen go from one of the world's biggest stars at arch-rivals Liverpool to a veteran forward at Old Trafford.
While he didn't move between the fierce rivals directly, the ex-England striker's 2009 move to Man Utd was enough to burn bridges with Liverpool fans completely.
Michael Owen
Michael Owen
The 2001 Ballon d'Or winner wasn't too popular at Anfield when he left for Real Madrid and was often given stick on his return appearances. Speaking to Jamie Carragher about his hostile returns to his old home ground, Owen explained how much it hurts.
He said: "I have almost had to cut off, it has been painful going back to Anfield and hearing boos while I was at Newcastle.
3 Carlos Tevez (Manchester United/Manchester City)
Manchester United's Carlos Tevez
Another of Scholes' old teammates made the list. Carlos Tevez annoyed half of Manchester when joining 'noisy neighbours' Man City after winning the Premier League and Champions League for United.
Scholes did put up a slight defence for the man who starred on the infamous 'Welcome to Manchester' sign. He recalled: "He was only on loan at United, wasn't he?"
Carlos Tevez
Carlos Tevez
That said, Tevez was part of the City squad that won their first-ever Premier League title in 2012. He's never been forgiven by the Old Trafford faithful, receiving loud boos upon his return for Soccer Aid in 2025.
2 Luis Figo (Barcelona/Real Madrid)
REUTERS
Luis Figo famously had a pig's head thrown at him when he returned to Camp Nou with Real Madrid. The Portuguese icon did the unthinkable and traded Barcelona's red and blue stripes for the famous white of Los Blancos.
Collage of RVP, Luis Figo, Gallas
Collage of RVP, Luis Figo, Gallas
He went from a much-loved figure at Barcelona to one of the most hated in the club's history. Remarkably, Figo ended up winning seven major trophies with each club.
1 Sol Campbell (Tottenham/Arsenal)
sol campbell
Undoubtedly, the biggest case of treachery in British football was when Sol Campbell ran down his contract at Tottenham, only to join Arsenal. The Englishman was offered a deal to become Spurs' highest-paid player of all time, but walked out the door for free instead.
EPL_Biggest British Traitors
EPL_Biggest British Traitors
What made things worse for Campbell were his previous comments about wanting to stay at White Hart Lane. Scholes went against Butt to pick Campbell above Figo, saying: "Arsenal and Tottenham, it was hatred, wasn't it? He got some abuse."