Wesley Sneijder never quite repeated the levels that he reached in 2010 in the years since but the Dutchman, now playing in Qatar, proved that he's very much still got it with a wonderful free-kick goal.
Once upon-a-time Wesley Sneijder was the best footballer in the world. It didn't last too long and it obviously didn't him the Ballon d'Or because his name isn't Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi but there's little doubt.
The Dutchman was the best player in Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan side that won an infamous treble, beating Pep Guardiola's Barcelona on the way to the Champions League final before beating Bayern Munich in said final.
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After that Sneijder helped Netherlands to the World Cup final that they lost. After that period though the former Ajax midfielder never quite lived up to those standards.
Despite being a Manchester United player throughout his whole career he never actually played for the Red Devils and now he's playing in Qatar for Al-Gharafa but that's not stopping him scoring a trademark worldie.
Today he curled a free-kick goal with perfect precision:
The Transfers That Somehow Never Happened Despite The Rumours
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So Manchester United finally bought Victor Lindelof on Saturday night, that's not bad considering they've only been linked with him since December. The Red Devils have had difficulty getting certain deals done but so have a lot of teams.
Every summer there are columns and web pages full of transfer rumours, not least on this website, about who will be going to which team for how many millions of pounds.
Of course only so many of those transfers will ever happen and there's only so many times that we'll ever take Gareth Bale moving to Manchester United seriously before we've written it off.
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The exception that proves the rule. Image: PA
There are some rumours that stop being in the gossip column and move over to the done deal end of the spectrum only for the deal to never materialise. All that smoke and still no fire.
On the weekend Manchester United bucked a huge trend by actually signing a player from Benfica for once. The Red Devils feature quite heavily on this list of deals that never happened:
Ezequiel Garay
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How much did United make from the Zenit deal? Image: PA
A Benfica centre-back linked with Manchester United for months on end? Sounds familiar. The only difference was the Garay was linked with a move to Old Trafford for several seasons. Finally in June 2014 he moved to Zenit St Petersburg but considering Portuguese press had reported several times his move to United was a done deal fans of the club must have been wondering why they let him go...
Steven Gerrard
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Gerrard was the central midfielder who embodied Liverpool in the Premier League era and just like them the one thing that will forever haunt him is the missed opportunity to win the league. But Gerrard could have done it with Liverpool if the death threats hadn't put him off going, what might have been.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Eventually Ibra ended up in the Premier League with Manchester United aged 35 but it could have been a much earlier move for the Swede. Once upon-a-time Arsene Wenger was interested in signing the striker but asked him to come for a trial. Of course we all know that "Zlatan doesn't do auditions."
Robert Lewandowski
Imagine if he'd ended up in Blackburn instead of Blackburn! Image: PA
It could have been so different for the Polish striker. Now a Champions League winner he could have just been relegated from the Championship. In 2010 the then Lech Poznan forward nearly signed for Blackburn Rovers but the dust cloud caused by an Icelandic volcano halted his flight and his move to Lancashire.
Wesley Sneijder
If Garay's never ending and never happening move to Old Trafford seemed like a slog then the Wesley Sneijder rumours were like a bad guy halfway through a James Bond film, they simply wouldn't die! Eventually the Dutch midfielder stopped playing well and everyone forgot the whole thing as he went to Turkey.
Fredy Guarin
Another former Inter midfielder but the difference with Guarin was there was no specific club for him to move to. For two summer windows, and the January window in between, Guarin was pimped out everywhere in the papers. On a near daily basis Guarin's value changed as he was constantly linked with some sort of swap deal.
Karim Benzema/Gonzalo Higuain
He was never really going to be a Gunner was he. Image: PA
These two can get bundled together because it just seemed that Arsenal were so desperate to spend big money on a big name striker that the players were almost interchangeable. Of course neither of these two ever came close to moving to the Emirates but plenty thought they would.
Gareth Barry
Rafa Benitez had Xabi Alonso at his disposal but for some reason he really really wanted to sign Gareth Barry. Alonso decided that he felt the manager didn't want him so decided to head to Real Madrid. Barry never turned up at Anfield and eventually turned up at Manchester City. Not Rafa's finest hour, fact!
Alfredo Di Stefano
One of the most complicated transfer stories in history in the middle of one of football's best rivalries. Image: PA
Going back a little in history and nothing really to do with column inches but Di Stefano nearly signed for Barcelona not Real Madrid and it would have changed the course of history. This transfer was so weird that at one point it was suggested the two clubs shared him with Di Stefano playing alternate seasons for the rivals, imagine!
William Carvalho
Might this be the summer that William Carvalho finally moves from Sporting? The Portuguese midfielder seems to have been linked with every club outside of his native country. Yet to find a new club Manchester City and Newcastle United are in the hunt this summer, allegedly.
Peter Odemwingie
In 2013 Peter Odemwingie was done with West Brom in his mind. QPR looked set to sign the winger so he drove down from the Hawthorns to sign for Harry Redknapp only 'Arry hadn't done a deal with the player's current club. Odemwingie was spotted by Sky Sports in his car waiting for a deal that never happened.
Isco
"Let's all have a disco. Silva, Navas, Isco." Believe it or not parts of the Manchester City faithful had a song for Isco when the Malaga youngster was linked with a move there. And why not he was clearly leaving and City had his former manager Manuel Pellegrini. Enter Real Madrid, say no more.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News
