When it comes to new managers and the transfer window, they will always want a certain player/s that they want from the previous team that they managed. This is a trend that will never end. For some managers, there will be one player that they want to bring in into every club that they manage.
First up would be current Dutch manager, Ronald Koeman. Over the years, the player he has linked up with three times is former Southampton striker Graziano Pelle. The Italian international forward was managed by Koeman first at AZ Alkmaar, followed by Feyenoord and then Southampton. Under Koeman's management, Pelle played a total of 241 games and scoring 101 goals.
Fabio Capello had a connection with two players in particular: Emerson and Christian Panucci. Capello linked up with Emerson first at Roma. They then came together at Juventus and finally at Real Madrid. Christian Panucci was managed by Capello at AC Milan, Real Madrid and Roma. Emerson played a total of 276 under Capello while Panucci played 543 times.
Maurizio Sarri and Gonzalo Higuain have had a brilliant relationship at three different clubs. The duo first linked up at Napoli with great effect with Higuain finding his best form at the Naples under the 61-year-old. However, the next two clubs at Chelsea and Juventus didn't prove to be fruitful ones. In total, he played 314 times and scoring 162 goals under Sarri.
James Rodriguez has linked up with Carlo Ancelotti three times. He was signed by Ancelotti at Real Madrid and then at Bayern Munich, albeit on loan and at Everton. Since Ancelotti's departure from Real Madrid, Rodriguez has struggled to replicate the form he showed under the Italian manager.
One of the best player-manager duos in modern football, Jose Mourinho and Ricardo Carvalho linked up at three different clubs although Carvalho was signed by Mourinho twice. He made his breakthrough to the senior side from the youth side at Porto under Mourinho. He eventually followed Mourinho to Chelsea and also wanted to follow him to Inter but a move failed to materialise. The duo joined forces for the third time at Real Madrid.
Jose Mourinho and Ricardo Carvalho linked up at three different clubs although Carvalho was signed by Mourinho twice. He made his breakthrough to the senior side from the youth side at Porto under Mourinho. He eventually followed Mourinho to Chelsea and also wanted to follow him to Inter but a move failed to materialise. The duo joined forces for the third time at Real Madrid.
Mourinho was also, 'obessed' with Nemanja Matic. Chelsea, as a club, signed Nemanja Matic twice. The first was in 2009 before selling him to Benfica in the deal which brought David Luiz to Stamford Bridge and then re-signing him in 2014. Jose Mourinho was in charge of Chelsea at the time of Matic’s second arrival and the Serbian quickly played his way into his manager’s heart.
Matic was a key member of the Chelsea side that won the Premier League under Mourinho in the 2014/15 season, the holding midfielder that allowed Cesc Fabregas to flex his creative muscles, knowing the defence was protected. Mourinho would leave Chelsea in 2015 and eventually rocked up at Manchester United, later to be joined by Matic (fresh off the back of another Premier League title win).
The Serbian’s arrival was meant to strengthen the Man Utd midfield under Mourinho and it did but the Portuguese manager would be sacked just over a year later ending their association. A second reunion would take place after Matic joined Mourinho’s Roma.
Harry Redknapp was arguably the most famous manager for signing his tried-and-tested generals. After all, he signed his own son at Southampton and took Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe with him almost everywhere he went.
However, arguably the most famous instance of Redknapp re-signing a player was that of Niko Kranjcar, whom he brought with him to Portsmouth, Tottenham and QPR (Queens Park Rangers). It was almost as if signing Kranjcar was top of Redknapp’s to-do list as soon as he got his new office chair warm.
Now, if you thought Redknapp was a sucker for a familiar face, wait until you hear about David Moyes and Marouane Fellaini. The Scotsman broke Everton’s transfer record with the £15m signing of Marouane Fellaini in 2008 and after five strong years together, Moyes then took the Belgian with him for his ill-fated spell with Man Utd, though Fellaini, himself, still went on to be a decent servant for the Red Devils. In fact, Moyes loved Fellaini so much that he even signed his clone at West Ham, Tomas Soucek.
"David found in Soucek his new Fellaini. They fought very hard to be lucky, so I praise them," Jose Mourinho said a few years ago as Moyes’ West Ham drew 3-3 with his Spurs side.
Moyes’ love for his old favourites doesn’t stop there. While at Sunderland, he signed the likes of Steven Pienaar, Darron Gibson, Bryan Oviedo and Victor Anichebe with him, while former United States international Brian McBride enjoyed loan spells under his management at Preston North End and Everton.
Even more than Kranjcar and Redknapp, Paddy Kenny and Neil Warnock was the ultimate player-manager partnership. Warnock signed the Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper for no fewer than five clubs, with Kenny going on to make 336 appearances under his management, at least 219 more than any other manager.
"He’s genuine, his man-management is unbelievable," Kenny told Sky Sports of Warnock in October 2020. “I have so much respect for him. I remember asking him when I was at Leeds why he kept signing me. He said, "I know what I’m going to get from you. I know there’ll be a bit of trouble off the pitch but you’ll always produce on it’."
Since his Liverpool days, much of Rafa Benitez’s success has come thanks to a pragmatic approach, soaking up pressure and being clinical when chances come along. Key to that style at Newcastle United was Salomon Rondon, who scored 11 goals in 32 Premier League games while on loan from West Brom. More than that, Rondon’s ability to hold the ball up, win aerial duels and put in the hard yards defensively made him a vital pressure-relief valve for the Magpies.
So impressive was Rondon that Benitez took him to China with Dalian Professional in 2019 and after 14 goals in 28 appearances, they reunited once again at Everton.
With a surname like Zidan, you’d better be good. Even if it is missing an ‘e’ on the end.
Well, Mohamed Zidan was once the face of Egyptian football and was so good that Jurgen Klopp signed him for both Mainz and Borussia Dortmund. In fact, Klopp even supposedly declared him "100 times" better than Mohamed Salah.
So, why did he only manage 38 goals in 118 appearances under the German? Well, as Zidan tells it, Klopp repeatedly had to pull the striker up on his lack of professionalism.
"Klopp told me that I was better than Salah 100 hundred times but I needed to be more professional,"he said. "Klopp said to me that I have a great talent and skills but I need to concentrate more. If I did this I could be one of the best players in the world."
Ironically, Zidan actually agreed with Klopp, adding, "I had to be more dedicated to training and be more professional to reach Salah’s level in the past. Salah is more professional than me and more dedicated to football like Ronaldo and Messi."
A lesser-known fact is that Arsene Wenger gave Thierry Henry his professional debut for Monaco way back in August 1994. Even then, Wenger believed Henry to be a striker but deployed him on the left to exploit his pace.
Well, after a failed spell as a wing-back at Juventus, Wenger then brought his young protege to Arsenal and, well, the rest is history.
That wasn’t the only time Wenger signed Henry for Arsenal. The French duo linked up again in 2012 as Henry was signed on loan from the New York Red Bulls, going on to score winning goals on his debut in the FA Cup for Leeds United and on his final game in the Premier League against Sunderland.
Steve Cooper stays insistent on getting Morgan Gibbs-White in from the start. Cooper and MGW have built up a strong working relationship ever since they combined to win the 2017 U17 World Cup (with a bit of help from the likes of Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho).
When Cooper took his first steps into club management with Swansea City, he brought Gibbs-White to South Wales in 2020/21 on loan from Wolves but unfortunately, a fractured foot cut short the midfielder’s time at the Liberty Stadium. Still, Cooper knew enough about him to have no doubts about making him the 10th most expensive English players of all-time, signing the 22-year-old for a potential £42.5 million for Nottingham Forest.
Kevin Nolan and manager Sam Allardyce have worked together on more than one occasion. Allardyce first managed Nolan at Bolton - where the midfielder made 345 appearances and scored 50 goals.
Allardyce went to Newcastle but was sacked the year before Nolan made his own move to the club. He then went on to play for Allardyce again at West Ham United. Nolan told the BBC in 2012, "We've got that sort of relationship where I think it's just a trust that he has in me."
Finally, to the inspiration behind this article: Antonio Conte and Romelu Lukaku. When Conte joined Chelsea, his number one striker he wanted was Everton's Lukaku. That move didn't materialise as Lukaku signed for Manchester United. Chelsea ended up buying Real Madrid's Alvaro Morata.
The story doesn't end there. When Inter Milan appointed Conte, once again, his number one target was Romelu Lukaku. This time around, the player wasn't holding back as he made his intentions clear that he wanted the move. An example would be him wearing a blue and black shirt (the traditional colours of the club). A move eventually materialised for €80 million.
Antonio Conte then went on to manage Tottenham Hotspur. Questions were raised as to whether Conte wanted to sign Lukaku but he rebuffed the questions. Now that Conte is at Napoli, it's no surprise that they have been linked with Lukaku. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up at Napoli by the end of August (when the transfer window slams shut).
The whole point of this is to point out how often managers tend to rely on certain players to perform for them. While it's a good idea to rely on those who you know well, It important to not isolate other players. At one point, managers have to realise that their ol' reliables won't be around forever - playing wise. There will be a time when a player has to retire for whatever reason.
It's because of that that managers should focus on other, youthful, players. They shouldn't put their plays around a certain player. It will eventually be found out and exploited.