Transfer Deadline Day has the habit of springing up some of football’s most wacky and wonderful moments.
Something in the mix of desperation, emotions, and nostalgia fuels a self-fulfilling prophecy of it being the most dramatic day on the transfer calendar.
Plenty of scenarios could have made this list.
Leicester botched their £22m move for Adrien Silva in August 2017 because the paperwork arrived 14 seconds late, while unsuspecting Sky Sports reporter Alan Irwin once had an adult toy rammed in his ear while on air.
We’ve picked just a selection of five for this one, some of which are absolute classics and some of which are more obscure, which highlight the truly bonkers nature of transfer Deadline Day dealings.
Leicester couldn’t sign Adrien Silva in the 2017 summer window because the paperwork arrived 14 seconds late
Peter Odemwingie QPR misadventure
Peter Odemwingie’s failed move to QPR remains one of the most tragic transfer stories in football folklore.
In 2013, the London club were secretly battling to secure the West Brom striker’s signature and Harry Redknapp told him to stay hidden in a hotel near the stadium in case the deal was completed in time.
Everyone was left baffled, then, when Odemwingie rocked up at QPR’s Loftus Road stadium uninvited in a gross misunderstanding of the situation.
‘It’s a new chapter to start in my life,’ he declared from his car. ‘I love West Brom and always will. I think every football fan is interested to see if we’re going to make it. or not. I’m very optimistic about it.’
Odemwingie had arrived believing that the two clubs had agreed a fee, but that wasn’t the case.
Peter Odemwingie ignored Harry Redknapp’s orders and turned up at QPR uninvited to try and force through a move from West Brom
The QPR boss told Odemwingie to hold up in a hotel as the club worked on finalising the deal
After making the 125-mile trip from West Brom to QPR in 2013, Odemwingie was refused access by the west London club, who had yet to secure an agreement with the Baggies.
The Nigerian was left waiting around in the car park alongside reporters for the final moments of the deadline and ultimately never completed his move to Redknapp’s side.
Redknapp remembered: ‘I said: “Drive down to QPR and put yourself in a hotel somewhere so that you’re close by”.
‘He didn’t. He went straight to…