Footballer, n: someone who plays football, especially as their job.

Mercenary, adj: interested only in the amount of money you can get from a situation.

The two words should seemingly be unrelated, but it’s becoming more and more common that they blend into each other. Footballer = mercenary. Mercenary = footballer. Of course, this isn’t the case for all footballers but still it is a problem; one which shows no sign of disappearing anytime soon. Here’s a look at a decade of footballing mercenaries – and it isn’t just players.

Darren Bent: Being a Sunderland fan, Bent is one of the first names to pop into my head when I hear talk of footballers moving for more money. Revered on Wearside, and often found talking about his love of the club and the city via Twitter, Bent decided to throw everything back in the face of the club and its fans by handing in a transfer request and moving to Aston Villa. He claimed it was for footballing reasons, but given Villa was struggling around the relegation zone at the time, while Sunderland were in the top seven, it’s not hard to see this as a move motivated by money.

Asamoah Gyan: The former strike partner of B£nt, A$amoah was clearly taught a few lessons in money-grabbing by his ex-teammate. Our record signing was linked with a move away to Turkey or back to France. However, come the deadline he was still a Sunderland player, and both player and manager confirmed he was staying. Then, a few days later, he was disappeared off to the footballing hotbed that is the United Arab Emirates and signed for the ‘giants’ Al Ain. Again; I’m sure he went for the trophies and crowds, not the reported $200,000 per week.

Winston Bogarde: One of the more ludicrous names on the list, and one that perhaps gets forgotten in light of the bigger, more world renowned stars. Yet also an early, shining example of a football mercenary. In four years with Chelsea, he made only around ten appearances, picking up £40,000 per week. He refused to leave the club, even when they made him train with the youth side, and instead stayed on content to not play and pick up his salary. He even made remarks such as “This world is about money, so when you are offered those millions you take them,” and “I may be one of the worst buys in the history of the Premiership, but I don’t care”. Nice bloke; salt of the earth kind of guy.

Luis Figo: It’s easy to see why anyone would want to join Real Madrid. At the time, they were the dominant side in Spain and Europe, full of ‘Galacticos’, a club rich with history and with money. However, Figo did the unthinkable and unforgivable in joining them – as he signed from Barcelona, where he was a fan favourite. The Barca faithful showed just what they thought of the move, by throwing a pig’s head at him.

Samuel Eto’o: A player regarded as one of the best strikers in the world, who has played for Barcelona and Inter Milan and could’ve taken his pick of clubs from across Europe has instead move to, er, Russia. He now plays for a side who aren’t in European competition, came 11th in the Russian league last season, after a considerable time outside the top flight, but who do, rather handily, have a billionaire owner who has made Eto’o the highest paid footballer in the world.

Sven-Göran Eriksson: The managerial mercenary. When England manager, he was recorded as part of a News of the World set-up saying that he would take over as Aston Villa manager after the World Cup. Surely the fact that he believed a wealthy Sheikh was taking over helped his decision. He then shocked football by joining Notts County as Director of Footballer. Coincidently, this happened after a rich, Middle Eastern consortium took over the club, and handed Eriksson a reported £2 million a year. Obviously he went there for the ambition and potential, not the money.

Other notable names include Nicolas Anelka, Emmanuel Adebayor, Luka Modric , Ashley Cole and so on. I could continue, but don’t think I’m being paid enough. Maybe if I get a better offer I’ll continue this article on another site…