Diego Maradona almost ended up in the second division at the age of 17 with Sheffield United. The military dictatorship then stopped the deal for £150,000.
Diego Maradona at an English second division club?
That could have actually happened, as Sheffield United’s historian John Garrett has now revealed to The Athletic.
Sheffield United wanted Maradona
After the 1978 World Cup, English club representatives flew together to South America to join the team of the new world champions Argentina. Osvaldo Ardiles, for example, moved to Tottenham at the time.
United boss Harry Haslam was also on the trip, looking for players who would help them return to the top flight.
In addition to two commitments – including Juan Sebastian Veron’s uncle Pedro Verde – Haslam found a highly talented teenager in the outskirts of Buenos Aires who had narrowly missed out on joining the squad of coaching legend Cesar Luis Menotti: 17-year-old Diego Armando Maradona.
Transfer fee already fixed
Maradona had already made her debut in Argentina’s professional football at 15, when Haslam watched him, he said: “I’ll take him.”
After brief negotiations, they had agreed on a payment of £150,000. Maradona appeared to be on her way to Sheffield.
But then things got complicated, because suddenly the military knocked on Haslam’s hotel door and demanded the same amount again to let Maradona out of the country.
Bribery of the military government?
Argentina was then ruled by a military dictatorship after a coup d’état “The sum was not the problem,” recalls United historian John Garrett: “It was more the political component that gave the board a headache. They didn’t want to be involved in a bribe.”
This later became the legend that Sheffield couldn’t afford Maradona, but that was just not the case.Diego Maradona almost ended up in the second division at the age of 17 with Sheffield United. The military dictatorship then stopped the deal for £150,000.
Diego Maradona at an English second division club?
That could have actually happened, as Sheffield United’s historian John Garrett has now revealed to The Athletic.
Sheffield United wanted Maradona
After the 1978 World Cup, English club representatives flew together to South America to join the team of the new world champions Argentina. Osvaldo Ardiles, for example, moved to Tottenham at the time.
United boss Harry Haslam was also on the trip, looking for players who would help them return to the top flight.
In addition to two commitments – including Juan Sebastian Veron’s uncle Pedro Verde – Haslam found a highly talented teenager in the outskirts of Buenos Aires who had narrowly missed out on joining the squad of coaching legend Cesar Luis Menotti: 17-year-old Diego Armando Maradona.
Transfer fee already fixed
Maradona had already made her debut in Argentina’s professional football at 15, when Haslam watched him, he said: “I’ll take him.”
After brief negotiations, they had agreed on a payment of £150,000. Maradona appeared to be on her way to Sheffield.
But then things got complicated, because suddenly the military knocked on Haslam’s hotel door and demanded the same amount again to let Maradona out of the country.
Bribery of the military government?
Argentina was then ruled by a military dictatorship after a coup d’état “The sum was not the problem,” recalls United historian John Garrett: “It was more the political component that gave the board a headache. They didn’t want to be involved in a bribe.”
This later became the legend that Sheffield couldn’t afford Maradona, but that was just not the case.
