Young footballer resigns and becomes a farm worker out of shame after being transferred to a rival club for 15 kilograms of pork sausage | football news

Transfer fees in football have reached eye-watering levels, with clubs happily spending millions for the right player. But back in 2006, a Romanian defender discovered that a transfer could also be resolved in a much more… edible way.Marius Cioara was playing for fourth division side UT Arad when he moved to second division Regal Hornia. However, the fee was not money. It was 15 kilograms of pork sausages.UT Arad, officially known as Asociația Fotbal Club UTA Arad, is one of the historic clubs in Romania. Founded in 1945, the Arad team, nicknamed Bătrâna Doamnă, or “The Old Lady,” has won six national titles and two Romanian Cups. Currently, UTA plays in Romania’s top flight, the SuperLiga, in the red and white colors at the Francisc von Neuman Stadium.But in 2006, the club’s transfer deals were apparently a little less glamorous.And in some ways, that was just the beginning of the story.

A transfer fee with a very short lifespan

Cioara’s unusual move quickly became a source of jokes at his new club and, according to comments attributed to the defender by the local media, the mockery eventually became excessive.“The sausage taunts were too much,” Cioara said.He added: “They were joking, but I would have gotten more out of the Germans and making jokes about sausages was a huge insult.”The defender decided he had had enough and retired from football the next day.Cioara subsequently abandoned the game completely and moved to Spain, where he found work on a farm. It’s not known if the change of scenery finally gave him some peace about the sausage jokes, but at least no one could accuse him of taking the whole thing too seriously.Meanwhile, Regal Hornia apparently wanted to recoup his unusual transfer fee. The club asked UT Arad to return the 15kg of sausages, giving the story perhaps its strangest post-transfer twist.

He wasn’t even the only player loaned for food

As strange as Cioara’s agreement may seem, he was not the only footballer whose transfer resulted in something from the kitchen.During the 2000–01 season, Norwegian third division player Kenneth Kristiansen moved from Vindbjart to Flekkeroy in a deal in which the fee was calculated according to his weight.The currency? Shrimp.Kristiansen weighed 75 kg, so Flekkeroy paid 75 kg of shrimp for him.Flekkeroy president Rolf Guttormsen recalled that he was not sure whether the deal was really serious.“I had no idea if it was a joke or something very serious,” he said. “The president of Vindbjart said it was a bit of both, but they wanted shrimp.”Fortunately, there was no shortage of seafood.“No problem, we have enough shrimp,” Guttormsen added.So while modern football has given us nine-figure transfers, release clauses and add-ons that require a calculator, there was a time when clubs could seemingly settle their transfer business with a trip to the butcher or fish market.Cioara received 15 kg of sausages. Kristiansen got his deal on the shrimp.And, presumably, somewhere in Italy, a sporting director is still wondering what the current price of frozen pizzas is for a decent midfielder.