Too small, doesn't fit into the playing system, would disrupt the salary structure – we've heard plenty of reasons why a transfer doesn't happen or why a club doesn't want a player.But that a player...
Too small, doesn't fit into the playing system, would disrupt the salary structure – we've heard plenty of reasons why a transfer doesn't happen or why a club doesn't want a player.
But that a player is too ugly to land a contract with a top club? That's something we've never heard – at least until now.
The former Russian national player Viktor Onopko recently suggested that Barca didn't want him for exactly that reason – because of his appearance.
Although the Spanish leaders were seriously interested in signing him, a transfer did not materialize.
📸 Martin Rose - Bongarts
In the podcast ‘El Bigote de Abadia‘, the 109-time national player said he only recently learned that Barcelona wanted to sign him back then. "But Cruyff or one of his assistants said I was ugly – that's why they didn't sign me," claimed Onopko.
Instead, the now 56-year-old played for the Spanish team Real Oviedo during the period in question, between 1996 and 2002.
However he came to this conclusion, he was deemed too ugly by those in charge – at least on the field, Viktor Onopko proved that he might indeed have had the quality to play with the Catalans. In May 2001, he won with Real Oviedo at Camp Nou.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
📸 Mark Sandten - Getty Images
Category: General Sports
