The most surprising transfer in Real Madrid's history

Some say this was the most surprising transfer in the history of football. This story starts in the 2009 January transfer window, at West Ham United. The players are on the team bus, on their way to Fulham for a game in the Premier League, when a mobile phone rings. Julien Faubert, one of the West Ham players, picks up his phone. On the other end of the line is a Frenchman, who says he works for Real Madrid. This man tells Faubert that Real Madrid wants to sign him. But Faubert feels like this isn’t serious, like someone is trying to prank him, so he says he doesn’t want to be bothered. He has a game to play. He switches off his phone.

After the game, Faubert switches his phone back on. He has 40 text messages and a couple of missed calls from his agent. Real Madrid really wants to sign him, and they have to hurry up, because the transfer deadline is rapidly approaching. 

In this episode of our podcast we tell the amazing story of a man who was born in poverty in a French harbor, and ended up making one of the most unexpected transfers in the history of football. This is the crazy story of Julien Faubert and his transfer to Real Madrid. It’s a story about frantic phone calls on deadline day, playing with a ballon d’or winner, being wrongly framed by the media, and finding peace in the south of France. 

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