How Parma were once one of the world's best teams
9Sometimes right before a football club reaches their peak at a moment in their history, their wings get violently clipped and they are left unfulfilled, castrated by a mass exodus of player sales.
This week we shall tackle a number of such instances from the early 21st century.
Arsenal had undergone a quick transition from the names who made them invincible and had risen from the ashes of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp. However, for the second time in less than half a decade Arsene Wenger was forced to pivot once more. The Manchester clubs stole in for some of their biggest names, from Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor to Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy. Whilst Arsenal continue to wait for another league title, City have since won 5 and thanks largely to the foundations provided by the Gunners.
Borussia Dortmund were a team caught very much between a rock and a hard place. The rock was their inferior finances in what was becoming a one-team league. The hard place was the Bundesliga behemoths Bayern Munich, who had been spooked enough by Jurgen Klopp’s rock ‘n’ roll football and decided to strip them of their assets: Mats Hummels, Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski.
Parma were all but set to be the team of the 2000s, and contained some of the best and brightest talent of the early part of the century. From Fabio Cannavaro and Gigi Buffon to Lillian Thuram and Hernan Crespo, Parma were supremely successful in Europe and domestically too. Although the Scudetto eluded them, they won the Coppa Italia 3 times in 11 years. 2002’s triumph would be their last, as financial meltdown in 2003 couldn’t be stemmed despite over £200m in departures.
#Parma #SerieA #Transfers
JOIN THE TEAM! Donate to our Patreon page for just £1, for bonus 5 days a week content such as your what if ideas made a reality, football podcasts, columns and Football Manager content: http://patreon.com/whatiffootball
WHAT IF FOOTBALL IS PART OF THE SPORTS SOCIAL PODCAST NETWORK: You can find our What if Football Podcast on the Sports Social Podcast Network every Wednesday, and everywhere else where you consume podcasts!: https://podcast.sport-social.co.uk/podcast/what-if-football/
FOLLOW US!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WhatIf_YouTube
Voice: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Words: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Edit: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
What If Football is a form of footballing storytelling that takes the audience down a different path to our current reality.
What If Football covers football in all forms, from the Premier League to the Champions League, European football and the EFL as well as international tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championships.
What scenarios would you like What If Football to cover? Please let us know in the comments section.