Arsenal fans once started fake Liverpool transfer rumour that fooled absolutely everyone

Arsenal fans once started a completely fake Liverpool transfer rumour that ended up duping everyone back in 1999.

In February 2018, Lithuanian side FK Panevezy signed a fake player purely based off going his Wikipedia profile - which had completely edited.

They announced the arrival of Barkley Miguel Panzo, whose profile claimed that he scored 45 goals in 36 games playing for QPR in the Championship.

There's of course the classic story of Ali Dia playing for Graeme Souness at Southampton, as well as fake footballer Gregoire Akcelrod nearly bagging a £15,000-a-month contract with a Champions League club.

But 24 years ago, some Arsenal supporters managed to somehow get Liverpool linked to a player who was not even real.

Years before Fabrizio Romano was informing us about every single transfer going, a number of different news outlets wrote 'exclusives' about the Reds being in for a French left-back.

The late Gerard Houllier was manager at the time and it was claimed that he was on the verge of completing a £3.5 million deal for Didier Baptiste of Monaco and France's Under 21 side.

Mike Dunn from the News of the World wrote: "We think Didier Baptiste would be an ideal addition to Liverpool's back four. He's a really attractive player and you will be seeing a lot more of him in the News of the World."

Even The Guardian and The Times got involved but the actual source of the rumour was from an Arsenal message switchboard.

However, it was all one big prank as Baptiste did not exist in the real world. He was a player/character from the classic British football show Dream Team, which aired on Sky between 1997 and 2007 and had 419 episodes across 10 seasons.

The soap opera, which featured a ridiculous amount of characters being killed off, was focused on the goings on of fictional Harchester United.

In the show, Baptiste, played by Sacha Grunpeter, signed for Harchester after turning down both Liverpool and Arsenal and played 44 times for the club.

Incredibly, he missed a penalty on purpose in order to try and get his own team relegated in a horrific bit of match-fixing that led to his departure.

Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports & Getty

Topics: Arsenal, Liverpool, Premier League

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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