{"id":10430,"date":"2018-01-14T18:30:36","date_gmt":"2018-01-14T09:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/?p=10430"},"modified":"2018-01-14T16:16:05","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T07:16:05","slug":"top-10-asias-most-scandalous-transfers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/2018\/01\/14\/top-10-asias-most-scandalous-transfers\/","title":{"rendered":"TOP 10: Asia’s Most Scandalous Transfers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 2018 winter transfer market is halfway through in Europe, but it continues to heat up in Asia as the continent’s top clubs wheel and deal in order to prepare their squads for the upcoming campaign.<\/p>\n

While the majority of these moves are completed without incident, others – whether as a result of a contractual dispute, club politics, or even the decision to move to a hated rival – have ended in grudges between players and their former clubs or supporters.<\/p>\n

Which Asian transfers would you consider to be the most infamous? We asked the Football Tribe editorial network to submit their selections:<\/p>\n

\"Suwon<\/p>\n

Year: 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Dejan Damjanovic<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: FC Seoul to Suwon Bluewings<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Montenegro international was FC Seoul’s most popular foreign player, having first played there between 2008 and 2013 before returning from a two-year China stint in 2016. But after showing dissatisfaction with a lack of playing time, Damjanovic became alienated from the side and reached out to their biggest rivals, Suwon, taking a 30 percent pay cut in order to keep his family near the capital.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year: 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Aliyuddin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: Persija to Persib<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aliyuddin formed a devastating trio known as ‘ABG’ together with Bambang Pamungkas and Greg Nwokolo. After becoming a cult hero in his four seasons, he made a shocking move to arch-rival Persib only to find that his quality decreased in Bandung.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year: 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Salim Alaydrus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: Persib to Persija<\/strong><\/p>\n

Going the other way, ambidextrous midfielder Salim Alaydrus managed to alienate fans of his former club when he posted a photo with a Persija ultra wearing a tee-shirt containing offensive comments toward Persib. Like Aliyuddin, the move was a disappointment for Alaydrus whose form dropped.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year: 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Le Cong Vinh<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: Hanoi T&T to Hanoi FC<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 2011 transfer of Le Cong Vinh from Hanoi T&T to Hanoi FC will go down as one of Vietnam’s most scandalous moves. On September 19 of that year, Vinh and Hanoi T&T claimed that the striker would stay at the club for another season. But Just three days later, the player made a complete reversal, rejecting T&T to join Hanoi FC.<\/p>\n

At the time, Vinh claimed he was convinced by Hanoi FC’s president to join the side. But in 2015 he revealed in a TV interview that he had been pressured by T&T to break up with Vietnamese singer Thuy Tien, whom he has since married.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year: 1999<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Seo Jung-won<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: Anyang Cheetahs & RC Strausbourg to Suwon Bluewings<\/strong><\/p>\n

From 1992 to 1997, Seo played for Anyang Cheetahs (now FC Seoul), who resisted his move to France but eventually relented, paying him half of his transfer fee under the condition that he return to the club. When he decided to come back to the K League after two unremarkable seasons with Strasbourg, he chose to do so with Cheetahs rivals Suwon who promised not to stand in the way of a return to Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

The decision was controversial, inspiring some Cheetahs fans to burn their old uniforms and eventually resulting in a legal tussle over the payment which Seo was required to give back. Time heals all wounds, however, and Seo is presently the head coach of FC Seoul.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year: 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Azrif Nasrulhaq<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: Selangor to Johor Darul Ta’azim<\/strong><\/p>\n

Considered one of the most scandalous transfers in the recent history of Malaysian football, Azrif was the latest big name from Selangor to be poached by JDT. After attempts to secretly collude with the player were made public in January 2016, JDT apologized and claimed they were no longer interested. That turned out to be true for roughly half a year, as the two clubs agreed on a compensation deal for Azrif during the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year: 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Yoshito Okubo<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: Kawasaki Frontale to FC Tokyo<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the November 7 announcement of the three-time J.League top scorers’ move was received well by Tokyo fans happy to have narrowly avoided relegation, Frontale fans were less than pleased as their club was still contesting the J.League championship Series as well as the Emperor’s Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many believed Okubo wasn’t fully committed to his current club in a 1-0 J.League Championship semifinal loss to Kashima Antlers, and he did not ingratiate himself to his future club when he scored against FC Tokyo in the Emperor’s Cup quarterfinal. His 2017 season in the capital was largely disappointing, and Okubo’s return to now-champions Frontale was announced following the conclusion of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year: 1999<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Mehdi Hasheminasab<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: Persepolis to Esteghlal<\/strong><\/p>\n

The towering defender became famous for his goals in the Tehran Derby, becoming a fan favorite at Persepolis after scoring four times against hated rivals Esteghlal. But a lucrative offer drove Hasheminasab to the blue side of Tehran.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his first derby for Esteghlal he was deployed as a striker. W<\/span>hile some players might show restraint when facing their former side, Hasheminasab famously fainted from his enthusiastic celebration after scoring his team’s second goal of the match.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year: 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Suree Sukha<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: Chonburi to Buriram United<\/strong><\/p>\n

Star defender Suree was beloved by Chonburi fans for his spirited play on the back line over 12 seasons at the club. While his decision to seek a move to rivals Buriram United was not necessarily the wrong one, the way in which he forced it – by refusing to turn up for training – earned him a Judas-like reputation amongst fans.<\/p>\n

While he went on to win three straight Thai Premier League titles and two each of the FA Cup and League Cup with the Thunder Castle, Suree has not been called up to Thailand’s national team since the incident and currently plies his trade for Ubon UMT United in the second division.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year: 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player: Manabu Saito<\/strong><\/p>\n

Move: Yokohama F. Marinos to Kawasaki Frontale<\/strong><\/p>\n

While transfers between rival clubs are not the rare occurrence they once were, Saito’s from one Kanagawa Derby rival to another came just one year after he had been handed the captain’s armband as well as the famed No. 10 uniform of club legend Shunsuke Nakamura following the former Celtic man’s departure for Jubilo Iwata.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old has been declared a traitor by F. Marinos faithful since the deal was announced on January 12, but others feel the move reflects poorly on the vision of the City Football Group-backed club, who have allowed two star players to depart on free transfers in consecutive years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2018 winter transfer market is halfway through in Europe, but it continues to heat up in Asia as the continent’s top clubs wheel and deal in order to prepare their squads for the upcoming campaign. While the majority of these moves are completed without incident, others – whether as a result of a contractual dispute, club politics, or even the decision to move to a hated rival – have ended in grudges between players and their former clubs or supporters. Which Asian transfers would you consider to be the most infamous? We asked the Football Tribe editorial network to submit their selections:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":10434,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1180,1183,1179,325,1187,1185,1181,1182,95,1186,228,1184],"class_list":["post-10430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","tag-aliyuddin","tag-azrif-nasrulhaq","tag-dejan-damjanovic","tag-le-cong-vinh","tag-manabu-saito","tag-mehdi-hasheminasab","tag-salim-alaydrus","tag-seo-jung-won","tag-slider","tag-suree-sukha","tag-transfer","tag-yoshito-okubo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}