Matheus Nunes is not the first Premier League player to act out in order to secure a transfer
Matheus Nunes likely did not expect Manchester City to be sniffing around him this summer. However, a series of unfortunate events means that the midfielder could complete a move to the Etihad before the transfer window closes on Friday.
First, Kevin De Bruyne was ruled out for a significant chunk of the season through a hamstring injury. Then, City's pursuit of preferred target Lucas Paqueta ran aground, with the West Ham star reportedly under investigation by the FA due to breaching betting rules.
This has led to Nunes attracting the Cityzens' attention – and he's made it abundantly clear that he's willing to do anything to force the move through. After City saw an initial offer for the player turned down, he effectively went on strike, refusing to train for Wolves.
Manager Gary O'Neil is putting on a brave face publicly, insisting after his side's Carabao Cup victory over Blackpool that he expected Nunes to stay, but if the treble winners increase their offer, he will surely be on his way out of the door.
Of course, this behaviour is nothing new. Down through the years, we've seen several Premier League players employ some questionable tactics in order to secure a transfer.
GettyPierre van Hooijdonk
Van Hooijdonk helped Nottingham Forest gain promotion to the Premier League with a stunning 1997-98 season that included 34 goals scored.
He often clashed with manager Dave Bassett, though, and eventually attempted to engineer a move away from the City Ground. The manager refused to let him go, despite Newcastle reportedly offering £7 million ($8.5m).
When Van Hooijdonk returned from World Cup duty in 1998, he believed the club was not well-positioned to start the new season.
The striker asked for a transfer and cited an agreement that allowed him to move at the end of the season should he wish. The owners refused, so Van Hooijdonk went on strike.
The protest lasted till November, when he reluctantly agreed to return. He scored just six goals that season and Forest ended up relegated. He eventually moved to the Netherlands, joining Vitesse for £3.5m ($4.2m).
AdvertisementGetty ImagesWilliam Gallas
This is perhaps the craziest story on our list. Gallas left Chelsea to join Arsenal in 2006, but it wasn't an amicable split.
After the deal had been completed, Blues boss Jose Mourinho backed the release of a club statement that claimed Gallas threatened to score an own goal and get himself sent off if he were forced to play for the club again. It was also suggested that he had refused to play in the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool the previous season.
Chelsea also stated that despite not wanting to let Gallas leave, they reluctantly agreed in order to help secure the services of Arsenal left-back Ashley Cole.
Gallas was enraged by Chelsea's claims and issued a statement of his own in which he declared: "I certainly never said I'd try and score an own goal if I ever played for Chelsea again."
Regardless of whether the most damning accusations were accurate, Gallas did sit out a pre-season tour leading up to his Blues exit.
GettyDimitar Berbatov
Did Sir Alex Ferguson deliberately unsettle Berbatov in the summer of 2008? Or were quotes attributed to the Scot simply the work of a mischievous media? Whatever the truth, the Tottenham striker clearly had his head turned by the news that Manchester United wanted to sign him.
Spurs filed a complaint with the Premier League, which Ferguson labelled "embarrassing", insisting that he had not told any newspaper that he expected to have Berbatov on board for the 2008-09 campaign.
By that stage, though, Berbatov was desperate to move to Old Trafford and he was left out of Tottenham's early-season clashes with Sunderland and Chelsea.
The Bulgarian was eventually allowed to leave by Spurs' seething chairman, Daniel Levy, but even Ferguson had been emotionally scared by the whole sorry episode, later writing that the transfer saga had been "more painful than my hip operation".
GettyJavier Mascherano
Mascherano was a hugely popular player at Liverpool, adored for the aggression and commitment he displayed each and every time he set foot on the pitch. The fans were bitterly disappointed, then, when he refused to play a game against Manchester City on August 23, 2010.
The problem was that Barcelona had made a bid for Mascherano and he was desperate to leave. He'd made his intentions known immediately after returning to Merseyside following the World Cup and he was under the impression that the club would let him leave if they received a reasonable offer.
Liverpool, though, did not want to give up one of the best midfielders in the world at the time, so Mascherano went AWOL for the trip to City.
He has since apologised to the fans for his actions but still maintains that he had no other choice.
"I was quite angry that they weren’t keeping their word," he later told . "Refusing to play at City was the way I found to show my annoyance.
"I’d told the club I wanted to leave for family reasons, so I was very upset to have to act the way I did. There was no other option – otherwise, Liverpool wouldn’t keep their promise."