FIVE players who were bigger than the club... or thought they were, anyway

Neymar is apparently trying to choose his next club as he desperately seeks an exit from PSG. We unearths some other footballers who morphed into Charlie Big Potatoes

Ian Wright (Arsenal)

“Bruce Rioch labelled me Charlie Big Potatoes,” blasted 32-year-old Arsenal striker Ian Wright after deciding to hand in a transfer request in February 1996.

The new Arsenal manager had attempted to introduce a passing game to the Highbury side, and Wright felt increasingly starved of the ball. 

Matters came to a head after the pair had a screaming match in the dressing room following the Gunners' FA Cup defeat against Sheffield United, and Wright became increasingly exasperated when Rioch claimed his former Bolton striker John McGinlay would have tucked away a chance he missed.

The vocal striker made his annoyance clear to vice chairman David Dein, and the writing was on the wall for Rioch, who only lasted a season at Highbury. Wright stayed, and broke Arsenal's goalscoring record.

Diego Maradona (Napoli)

Following Maradona's world record £6.9m move to Serie A side Napoli in 1984, a local newspaper claimed: “We have no mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, but none of this matters because we have Diego Maradona.”

The sublime Argentine's arrival ushered in the most gilded era of Napoli's existence, and they won Serie A in 1987 and 1990. But off the field, his personal problems increased. He racked up over $70,000 in fines for missed training sessions and matches, and there were concerns over his links with the Mafia-linked Camorra.

By the time new boss Claudio Ranieri arrived at the club in July 1991, Maradona was serving a 15-month ban for testing positive for cocaine. “I'd love to work with him,” admitted Ranieri, “but no one – not even Diego – is bigger than this club.”

His ban served, Maradona departed to Seville and was never the same player again.

David Beckham (Manchester United)

Although Beckham claimed that he and Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson had a “father-son” relationship, it began to disintegrate midway through the 2002/03 campaign. An early-season injury meant Becks struggled for form, and following defeat to Arsenal at Old Trafford in the FA Cup in March 2003, Boot Gate suggested that the England midfielder was headed for the exit.

In one of his many books, former United supremo Fergie suggested that Beckham had failed to acknowledge he hadn't tracked back properly for one of the Gunners' goals. Stories surfaced that Fergie also disapproved of Beckham's celebrity lifestyle, beanie hats, sharp hairdos and the fact he “made it his mission to be known outside the game”.

Despite strong interest from Barcelona, Becks signed for Real Madrid and, in Fergie's opinion, “didn't quite make it into the pantheon of United legends”. Beckham later shrugged off Ferguson's verbal jousts, noting: “Someone as successful as that is entitled to their opinion.”

Malcolm Macdonald (Newcastle)

Newly appointed Newcastle manager Gordon Lee and the Magpies' star striker Malcolm MacDonald were never destined to see eye to eye, especially after Supermac was quoted in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle as asking “Who is Gordon Lee?” after the ex-Blackburn boss took the hot seat in summer 1975.

“My cards were marked after that rather unfortunate start,” remarked MacDonald wryly several years later. During the rather uncomfortable 1975/76 campaign, Lee made a point of subbing MacDonald on a regular basis and informed him: “You're not a good pro, MacDonald, there's more to football than scoring goals” after the latter scoffed at Lee's training routines.

Twelve months later, Supermac joined Arsenal for an eye-catching £333,333.33 fee. “He's not worth it,” Lee blasted. MacDonald plundered goals aplenty for the Highbury side, while Lee bailed out of St James' Park within 18 months before later managing Everton, Preston and KR Reykjavik.

Tony Yeboah (Leeds)

“I don't think George Graham liked me very much,” claimed former Leeds hitman Tony Yeboah. “I think he expected me to be trouble.”

When the dour Scot took over at Elland Road in autumn 1996, he wasn't convinced that the Ghanaian striker – a fan favourite at Elland Road following his bewildering thunderbolts against Liverpool and Wimbledon the previous season – was the man to revive Leeds's flagging fortunes.

Yeboah – who admitted to having gained a few pounds due to his penchant for Yorkshire puddings – was regularly substituted, or asked to plough a lone furrow up front. The end came in March 1997.

With his new charges trailing Tottenham 1-0, Graham substituted the two-time Bundesliga top scorer and replaced him with a defender. Yeboah, whose golden spell lasted only a year, took off his shirt and hurled it in Graham's direction. It wasn't a wise move. He never played again for Leeds, with Graham claiming: “Yeboah doesn't currently have the right team ethic to justify me picking him.”