{"id":16624,"date":"2026-07-12T10:27:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T10:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16624"},"modified":"2026-07-12T10:27:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T10:27:59","slug":"man-utd-liverpool-chelsea-deals-among-five-transfers-scuppered-by-failed-medicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=16624","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea deals among five transfers scuppered by failed medicals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div><!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p>Ederson\u2019s move to Manchester United is reported to be going the same way as these five stars who had their hopes dashed by a doc\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Medicals are not always a formality. <strong>As Ederson seems to have learned the hard way<\/strong>. We don\u2019t know yet if the deal is dead, but it certainly seems that United are trying to rejig the terms.<\/p>\n<p>Here are five other deals that collapsed after the docs got involved, with one \u2018idiot\u2019 depriving Gary Breen of a dream move to Inter Milan.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Ruud van Nistelrooy to Manchester United<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Holland centre-forward eventually got his big move in 2001 \u2013 a year later than planned.<\/p>\n<p>In April 2000, Manchester United agreed an \u00a318.5million deal with PSV Eindhoven for Van Nistelrooy, who travelled to England to drop his trousers and cough for the medics at Old Trafford. It was assumed to be a formality and United arranged a press conference to unveil their new star striker.<\/p>\n<p>But the Red Devils were not satisfied with an injury Van Nistelrooy was carrying. They wanted the player to undergo tests on his medial ligament but neither Van Nistelrooy nor PSV were willing to oblige. So United pulled the plug.<\/p>\n<p>The following day, while training with PSV, Van Nistelrooy ruptured his cruciate ligament in the same knee.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"van Nistelrooij scheurt VKB\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tE-Tm-rS6Po?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He was ruled out for a year, but Sir Alex Ferguson was still determined to make Van Nistelrooy his centre-forward. Almost exactly a year after the original deal collapsed, United got their man and Van Nisterooy signed in a \u00a319million deal. And he was bloody brilliant.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Loic Remy to Liverpool<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Liverpool were ready to give their No.7 shirt to Remy in 2014 but the Reds eventually pulled out of an \u00a38million deal with QPR.<\/p>\n<p><smartframe-embed customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOB6xGxhETS\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 100%;\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The French striker had agreed personal terms of \u00a390,000 a week and travelled to Boston where Brendan Rodgers\u2019 side were on their pre-season tour. Remy was raring to go once his move was rubber-stamped. But Liverpool were dragging their feet. Initially they said the deal was being held up by administrative issues, two days before they walked away.<\/p>\n<p>Liverpool never stated why but it was widely reported that they had concerns over the player\u2019s heart. After consulting cardiologists, the Reds chose not to take the risk.<\/p>\n<p>QPR boss Harry Redknapp couldn\u2019t fathom the decision:\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t see how he could have failed a medical. He had a stringent one here, one at Marseille and at Newcastle and with France before the World Cup. You couldn\u2019t meet a fitter lad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A month later, Chelsea paid \u00a310.5million to sign Remy while Liverpool moved instead for Mario Balotelli. <strong>That went well.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Marko Arnautovic to Chelsea<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Chelsea were less willing to take a chance on Arnautovic after they agreed to sign the Austria forward in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues had arranged a \u00a312million deal with FC Twente for a player dubbed \u2018the new Zlatan Ibrahimovic\u2019. But they refused to proceed with the transfer after they discovered a fracture in his foot.<\/p>\n<p>The injury nearly scuppered a subsequent move to Inter Milan too. But after the Italians took a second look at Arnautovic, they agreed to take him on loan for the season.<\/p>\n<p>They need not have bothered. Arnautovic managed only three substitute appearances in Inter\u2019s Treble season before Twente sold him instead to Werder Bremen for around half the price Chelsea were prepared to pay a year previously.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Gary Breen to Inter<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Like everyone else in 2002, Inter dreamed of a team of Gary Breens.<\/p>\n<p>The Republic of Ireland defender was out of contract at Coventry and coming off the back of an impressive showing at the World Cup. Barcelona were said to be sniffing but Inter made a Breen an offer he couldn\u2019t refuse.<\/p>\n<p>However, an \u2018idiot doctor\u2019 ruined the centre-back\u2019s dream move with a knee problem said to be to blame.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrior to the Spain game, I had a agreed a deal with Inter,\u201d Breen told <em>Off The Ball<\/em> in 2017. \u201cWhen we got back to Dublin, I flew out to Milan, I had the medical, failed the medical, and I still haven\u2019t gotten over it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEssentially, the doctor was an idiot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it didn\u2019t materialise, I struggled actually for a little bit after that. I just couldn\u2019t get it out of my head but you know, that\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Breen joined West Ham instead.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On the back of the 2002 World Cup, Gary Breen came within a &#8216;whisker&#8217; of joining Inter Milan. Can you think of a more unlikely transfer involving an Irishman? #COYBIG <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QQDY7W3vf0\">pic.twitter.com\/QQDY7W3vf0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Boys We&#8217;ve Seen (@boysweveseen) February 6, 2023<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><strong>John Hartson<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Wimbledon striker was set to join Rangers for \u00a36.5million on a five-year contract worth \u00a315,000 a week in 2000 and he was whisked up to Glasgow to sign at Ibrox on the same day as Ronald De Boer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI flew up with my dad in Sir David Murray\u2019s private jet,\u201d Hartson explained to<em> Open Goal<\/em> in 2018. \u201cI arrived in Glasgow airport and it was like Michael Jackson was arriving. There was press everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Hartson never put pen to paper. Rangers told the Welshman that there was \u201csomething with your knee\u201d, while Murray was prepared to be more forthright.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis levels of fitness, our doctor told us, was a risk,\u201d said Murray. \u201cWe did not feel that he had the correct fitness at the time to go straight into the Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo disrespect, but to score against Huddersfield is slightly different to scoring against Galatasaray.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Medicals scuppered subsequent moves to Spurs and Charlton too but Celtic were more willing to take a punt on Hartson the following year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook John, unless you\u2019ve got a hole in your heart, I\u2019m gonna sign you,\u201d Martin O\u2019Neill told the striker who then bagged 109 goals for the Bhoys, including seven against Rangers.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End --><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script>\n        !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n        {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n        n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n        if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n        n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n        t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);\n        s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n        'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n        fbq('init', '1399787394855675');\n        fbq('track', 'PageView');\n    <\/script><script>\n        !function(e,n,t){var o=e.getElementsByTagName(n)(0);e.getElementById\n    <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ederson\u2019s move to Manchester United is reported to be going the same way as these&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}