6 stars who quit Premier League clubs after promoting new kit as Vieira returns

Don’t wait around for updates – sign up for our daily football email newsletter today!

Transfers are a very influential part of football, and extremely exciting from a neutral's perspective, but it's a very different, emotional experience when it comes to the club you support.

Although it can be exciting when a new star arrives, it can be heartbreaking when a beloved player departs, and what can be even more frustrating is when that star is seen modelling a new kit for the upcoming season before completing a transfer.

This is something that Arsenal fans experienced in 2005, as Patrick Vieira was seen promoting the Gunners' new kit, but left for Juventus later that window despite luring supporters into a false sense of security that he was going to stay.

Vieira returns to Arsenal for the first time as manager on Monday as Crystal Palace travel to the Emirates, and the Frenchman is expected a heroes welcome by the north London crowd despite the unexpected exit back in 2005.

Here Daily Star Sport take a look a six stars who quit their clubs despite promoting new kit…

Patrick Vieira

Vieira signed for Arsenal in 1996 after famously admitting it was because Arsene Wenger was also joining the club, and the Frenchman made himself a legend for his service to the Gunners.

The midfielder won three Premier League's and four FA Cup's with Arsenal but attracted major interest after captaining his side to the only ever 'invincible' season during the 2003/04 campaign.

After fending off original interest from Real Madrid, Arsenal sold Vieira to Juventus in 2005 after the midfielder had already convinced fans that he was going to stay after modelling the new kit with Thierry Henry.

However, this was not the case and the Gunners' received £13.75m for the Frenchman, but Vieira will always be remembered for his time at Arsenal.

Jack Grealish

After years of being linked with a move away from his boyhood club, Jack Grealish finally left Aston Villa and in doing so, became the Premier League's record signing.

Manchester City paid £100m for the Villa captain, and his adoring fans were gutted to see him go, especially after modelling their new shirt before leaving Dean Smith's side.

Grealish was always destined to leave Villa at some point, and fans were torn as although they were disappointed their main man had left, he could have easily left when originally relegated to the Championship back in 2016.

However, Grealish stayed, helped them back into the Premier League, and even stayed for an extra two seasons to help establish Villa as a top-flight side once again, and the record fee allowed Smith to heavily re-invest in the squad.

Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez may have only spent three-and-a-half seasons at Liverpool, but the Uruguayan left as one of their greatest ever strikers, highlighting his incredible impact since joining the club in 2011.

Suarez almost single-handedly led Liverpool to their first ever Premier League title during the 2013/14 season, but they agonisingly missed out on the final day, as City pipped them to top spot.

The Uruguayan was distraught, and moved to Barcelona in 2014 despite being a huge part of Liverpool's new kit launch for the season ahead, but Suarez had become one of the best strikers in the world and the Reds received £65m for his services.

Suarez went on to win four La Liga titles and the Champions League with Barcelona, and the 34-year-old is still one of the best around, helping Atletico Madrid to the Spanish title last season.

Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling became a star at Liverpool after the Reds signed the youngster from Queens Park Rangers' youth academy back in 2010, but although the former fan favourite plagued his legacy with a messy move to City in 2015.

Brendan Rodgers reportedly offered Sterling an "incredible" deal to stay at Liverpool, but the England international gave an unsanctioned interview with the BBC before the end of what turned out to be his final season, admitting he'd turned down the offer.

Despite this, Sterling took part in Liverpool's promotion for their new kit, but then forced a move to City as the Reds received £50m for his services.

The deal appeared to work out better for Liverpool in the long run, as Sadio Mane was signed the season after, and the Reds agreed a deal with Roberto Firmino upon discovering that Sterling would not sign a new deal, and the rest is history.

Ben White

Ben White has been a huge talking point over the last two summers, as both Leeds United and Arsenal were chasing the young England defender, with the latter winning the battle and signing the 24-year-old for £50m.

Despite joining Brighton in 2014, White only really featured for the Seagulls consistently over the 2020/21 season, and his performances alongside Lewis Dunk were enough to convince the Gunners that he was the right man to bolster their defence for the foreseeable future.

White modelled Brighton's kit shortly before making the big-money move to Arsenal, but the Seagulls have massively benefitted from the deal, and have only lost one Premier League game all season.

Brighton have already kept six clean sheets in all competitions this season, but White has started to settle at Arsenal, as their form has completely turned around under Mikel Arteta.

Gareth Bale

Don't miss a thing with our football updates!

Want to be on the ball with all of the latest football news?

Well then sign up for the brilliant Daily Star football email newsletter!

From the latest transfer news to the agenda-setting stories, get it all in your email inbox – don't miss a thing.

How do you sign up?

It only takes a matter of seconds.

Simply type your email address into the box at the top of this article and hit 'subscribe'.

And that's it, job done. You'll receive an email with all of the top news stories every single morning.

You can find out more information on our email newsletter on this link here.

Gareth Bale is a special mention on this list, as the former Tottenham star has been pictured modelling new kit not once, but twice before leaving the club and heading to Real Madrid.

Bale originally left Spurs in 2014 for a then world-record £89m, but was a huge part of their kit launch that year before departing on Deadline Day.

The Welshman repeated this again in 2021, as the winger returned to the club on loan following a difficult spell under Zinedine Zidance, and was also pictured in Tottenham's current kit as fans thought he may re-sign permanently.

To top off his disruption, Bale was selected for the cover of FIFA 14 while he was at Tottenham, but due to his late move, EA Sports had to redesign the cover for their game, and re-distribute copies as they were now outdated.

• Premier League
• Arsenal FC

Source: Read Full Article