The great Eric Cantona once said “you can change your wife, your political party, your religion, but you can’t change the football team you support”. There are indeed players who fervently supported a particular club, while playing for another club, or who later joined a club which was not their favorite club at all. Here are 10 footballers who betrayed their club by preferring a rival club deep inside themselves, or who finally changed their minds, because only idiots don’t change their minds.
1. André Iniesta and his hidden love for Real Madrid
I will surely disappoint some but initially Iniesta was not necessarily a big fan of Barça, he was even a supporter of Real…
He never hid it and explained that the Catalans had beaten (7-0) Albacete, his favorite club, while he was at the stadium. This is why, following this defeat, he decided to support Real until he joined the Barça training center in 1986.
Iniesta had explained to the Cuadro this saying: “Once Albacete went to play in Barcelona, and he scored 7 goals for my team. I was so disgusted that I said to myself: “Barça cannot do this to my team. So from that moment I had a bit of a difficult time. »
2. Modric, on the contrary, was a fan of FC Barcelona
Rakitic, Modric’s Croatian colleague himself said about his friend “sometimes I tease him by telling him that he is even more Catalan than me” (Mundo Deportivo – 2018). In 2010, when Modric was at Spurs, he was close to signing for Barça, and younger, Barça was one of his favorite clubs. Nevertheless, Rakitic also specifies “when he was younger, he supported the Catalan club, but pro as he is, we completely lost him and he became 100% Madrid”. Yes, even if he initially had preferences, Modric is a professional.
3. As a child, Giorgio Chiellini was an AC Milan fan
Chiellini was a legend of Juventus, it is necessarily a bit taboo to say that as a child it was not his heart club. He had admitted that his younger twin brother supported Juve well, but he was a supporter of AC Milan. Later, Chiellini joined the Old Lady (in 2004), and finally played 17 years with the Bianconeri, we can say that the Italian seems to have changed his mind over time. Chiellini had admitted this, saying: “When I was a kid, unfortunately, I was a Milan tifoso. Over time, I got smarter. When you’re told that only idiots don’t change their minds.
4. Raheem Sterling was a Manchester United fan (while playing at Manchester City)
Sterling told The Mirror in May 2019: “I definitely shouldn’t be saying this, not now, but I was a big United fan. I even had an old United shirt. Ouch, it’s a bit difficult to hear especially for Manchester City supporters, especially when you know the rivalry of the two clubs.
5. It should not be thought that Raúl has always been a Merengue at heart
Growing up, Raúl was a fan of Atletico Madrid, one of Real Madrid’s rival clubs. But in 1992 the president of Atletico was forced to close the youth categories, for lack of means and many young people found themselves without a club and Real took the opportunity to recruit young talents, like Raúl.
6. Harry Kane was an Arsenal supporter
A photo of Harry Kane had been talked about a lot and had turned a lot on social networks. It was a picture of him as a child in the Arsenal shirt that celebrated the club’s last Premier League title he supported. An emblematic Spurs player, he had been strongly criticized for this photo, so much so that he had to justify himself by saying: “I was 8 years old. I was at Arsenal for 1 year and obviously I was a child, I wanted to play football” and maintains that he has never been an Arsenal supporter, but it is hard to believe.
7. Jamie Carragher is a former Everton fan
Jamie Carragher spent 17 years at Liverpool, however he never hid that being younger, and throughout his childhood he supported Everton. He had confessed in The Sun in 2017: “as a child my life revolved around Everton, in 1985 and throughout my childhood, all that interested me was Everton”. He was even busy, that in 1986, he would have preferred to see Everton win the double against Liverpool rather than see England world champion. We can say that he has changed his mind the guy.
8. He has rumors that Payet once supported PSG
We end this top with a story that is very often controversial: Payet, before joining OM, would have supported PSG. We explain where it comes from. In 2011, when Payet was only 24, he was already entering his fourth year with St-Etienne. Antoine Kombouaré, the former Parisian coach wanted to recruit him, in particular to compensate for the departure of Stéphane Sessègnon. Alain Roche, former sports director of PSG remembers, the discussions with Payet’s agents were engaged, and affirms that Payet really wanted to go to PSG. Payet saw a real opportunity in the Parisian club, and had even fallen out with the management of St-Etienne who wanted to keep the player. Well that was a long time ago, but it still remains in the minds of the fans generally.