Love triangles are awkward. They pit people against each other, force difficult decisions, and perhaps most importantly, don’t often end well.
Something similar happened in this January’s transfer market. How about a transfer triangle?
Three clubs with no connection outside of transfer negotiations. Three unrelated players. Three transfers that will be perpetually and bizarrely linked.
Of course, Cristiano Ronaldo made headlines when he joined Saudi club Al-Nassr after being effectively cut by Manchester United. It’s believed to be the biggest ever contract signed by a professional athlete. I already covered the move a few weeks ago. Hold the phone on this for a minute.
READ MORE: I don’t know what to think about Ronaldo
This naturally left Manchester United short of a forward for the remainder of the season. Strapped for cash, the Red Devils were looking for a cheap, short-term option, rather than an expensive permanent signing. Premier League experience would fit the bill, too.
In stepped Wout Weghorst. Contracted to Burnley, Weghorst joined Besiktas in Turkey on loan after the Clarets were relegated from the EPL last season. He didn’t have a great goal-scoring record for Burnley, but he at least played in the Premier League, and he was theoretically available on loan.
Only, he was already on loan at Besiktas.
Money has a pretty convincing way about it, doesn’t it? Manchester United paid off Besiktas to allow Weghorst to return to Burnley early, only for Burnley to send him to United on loan instead. The inner-workings of the deal are pretty confusing in-and-of itself.
For the sake of this story, all you really need to know is that Weghorst left Besiktas to join Manchester United. Guess who needs a forward now? More on that in a second.
Anyway, back to Ronaldo and Al-Nassr. Rules in the Saudi league limit the amount of foreign-born players allowed on a roster. Between its current players and the imminently-arriving Ronaldo, Al-Nassr figured to be one foreigner over the limit.
Of course, the club had no hesitation in cutting one of its current players to make room for Ronaldo. Al-Nassr chose to terminate forward Vincent Aboubakar, a solid striker in his own right who recently scored for Senegal at the World Cup.
Guess where Aboubakar played right before joining Al-Nassr? Besiktas.
So, in need of a striker and with a convenient option dumped in its lap, Besiktas snapped up Aboubakar on a multi-year contract.
Triangle complete.
Ronaldo from Manchester United to Al-Nassr. Aboubakar from Al-Nassr to Besiktas. Weghorst from Besiktas (via Burnley) to Manchester United.
It’s a truly puzzling series of events that landed three strikers at three new teams, and it’s all connected.
And it all came about because Ronaldo couldn’t get along with his teammates and quit on the club that gave him his breakthrough all those years ago. Not really GOAT behavior, if you ask me.
In its usual brilliant social media form, Besiktas perfectly summed up these butterfly-affected moves when it announced that Aboubakar was back:
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