| Listen to The Footballer’s Football podcast with Callum Wilson and Michail Antonio on BBC Sounds |
Willy Boly’s no-show for Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend is not the first time a player has taken a calculated risk to force a move as the transfer window draws to a close.
His manager Bruno Lage said the Ivory Coast defender failed to report for Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Newcastle amid strong links with a move to Nottingham Forest, despite being selected for the matchday squad.
“He has been a great professional but in the end he wants to force something,” said Lage.
The classic transfer deadline day example of taking matters into your own hands will always be West Brom’s Peter Odemwingie infamously driving himself to Queens Park Rangers without permission – with the deal falling through.
But for a more modern point of reference, anyone who has watched All or Nothing: Arsenal will have enjoyed the scene in which Arsenal’s technical director Edu Gaspar discovers for the first time that striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has taken an unsanctioned trip to Barcelona, before any agreement has been reached on his eventual move there.
So how common is this sort of behaviour? Premier League strikers Callum Wilson and Michail Antonio discussed the issue before Thursday’s deadline day on their BBC Sounds Footballer’s Football Podcast…
‘It was the right thing to do because I got what I wanted’
“Ultimately, players have quite a bit of power,” said Newcastle striker Wilson, 30.
“I’ve seen it happen time and time again. As a player, you can understand it, but you just don’t want it having a negative impact on what your current squad are going to do. As long as it’s not disrespectful to the squad, I just leave players to their own devices.”
West Ham striker Antonio admitted that he himself had forced a move once.
The 32-year-old didn’t go into the specifics but explained: “It probably wasn’t the right thing to do, but it got the move done,” before contradicting himself, adding: “No, actually, it was the right thing to do because I got what I wanted at the end of the day. People frowned upon it, but it’s worked out for the best.”
Antonio also shared some more extreme examples of protests he has seen team-mates make, in order to press the issue of a transfer:
“I’ve seen a player come in and say to the manager, ‘I want to leave.’ The manager says ‘no’. The player goes into the kit room and takes every single football. Every single football. Then goes home – no training.
“I’ve seen another player in training – the ball comes to him, he boots it away. Every single time. If you don’t pass it to him, he’s running after the ball to kick it away.”
Antonio said that most players accept the situation when a team-mate is pushing for a move, because they appreciate that it’s a short career and understand that, “they’re doing it to better themselves and they’re doing it for their families”.
Will Boly’s stance pay off? Will Aubameyang turn up in London again? Follow every twist and turn with BBC Sport’s deadline day live page.
