168: Youri Djorkaeff, France, Panini World Cup France 98

Today Mat Jolin-Beech takes a look at a World Cup and European Championship winner who scored over 200 goals in spells in his native France, Italy, Germany, England and the USA and oozed class on and off the pitch. The days where such a talent would turn up outside of Europe’s self-appointed elite clubs may well be long behind us so it’s a good job some nice lads churn out a bi-weekly nostalgia blog. Over to the nicest of the lot.

There was a period in the late 1990s and early 2000s when clubs were seemingly able to make some mad, surprise and unexpected signings. We here at A Sticker’s Worth 500 Words admire and encourage these types of signings. We’d love Norwich City to sign Samuel Eto’o for example or for Peter Crouch to make a return from retirement to boost Bournemouth’s promotion bid. There is always a chance that everyone’s favourite Geordie striker (not Alan Shearer) Andy Carroll could come back and look to give someone’s season a boost. Hi Reading and West Bromwich Albion.

There was Steve Bruce’s coup for Birmingham City to sign Christophe Dugarry in an attempt to fight off relegation. Something that team achieved. The Don of mad, unexpected signings was Sam Allardyce. In particular, peak Sam Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers in that 2002-05 period that saw that team reach Europe and as high as sixth in the Premier League. That team had some amazing players.

The ever-reliable Jussi Jääskeläinen in goal, big Bruno Ngotty ahead of him, a young Kevin Nolan beginning to make a name for himself, Henrik Pedersen, and one-cap wonder Kevin Davies. However, the highlight of that squad was the international dream team triumvirate of Youri Djorkaeff, Jay-Jay Okocha, and Iván Campo.

They are some mad signings. And how Bolton, a recently promoted team that had yo-yoed for the years prior, managed them beggars belief. Added to these huge signatures, Fernando Hierro came in just a couple of months before Djorkaeff left in 2004. Crazy times.

That Bolton team was always a great watch. They could get spanked or spank someone, with some unbelievable tekkers undoubtedly going to be on show. Okocha was the showboater. He was the headline grabber. The star of the show. Ivan Campo, with that hair, was always eye catching. However, the Frenchman was arguably the most important player of that trio. A total of twenty goals in 75 appearances, getting the team to the final of the League Cup, then sponsored by the purveyors of awful lager, rank among some of his best achievements on the pitch.

Off the pitch, he proved he was a stand-up bloke. He opened a footballing school in Armenia while still playing in England. After he hung up his boots, he became the president of his childhood club in Lyon in April 2007, and he currently runs the Youri Djorkaeff Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing football programs in New York City. An all-round good guy. So let’s be glad he came and was part of an era when he could come to England to a smaller club punching above its weight.

However, those days of crazy signings, of world class talent, and Nicky Hunt,  ending up at provincial clubs appear to be long gone. Even before the days of Covid enforced financial austerity (for most clubs not backed by oil money and wealthy Americans wanting to showcase their money), the bloated wages and soaring transfer fees and agents’ costs looks to have stamped them out. Can you imagine Brentford signing a former World Cup winner? Or Burnley somehow getting Luis Suarez to come back to England? The budgets just are not there for these deals anymore. So, let’s all just be thankful that that era of unfathomable signings happened at all and go and jump down a footballing wormhole on YouTube.