One-club men are players who spent their entire senior careers with one club – no transfers, no loans. Up until around a decade ago, some players still could’ve been counted in this category. These days, when there’s more money in football than ever before and when loyalty has completely lost its value, it’s challenging to keep a player so satisfied that a move to another club doesn’t ever cross his mind. However, there has been a player who could’ve joined the one-club men crew, the man we all know very well, and, most importantly, the man who is still active – Nacho Fernández.Two for two: Nacho and Joselu leaving, two gems of world football arrivingReal Madrid’s already former captain left a couple of days ago for the Saudi side Al-Quadsiah, which would become only his second club in the career. This way, he wasted the chance to become the fifth player in Los Blancos’ history who spent his whole career at Santiago Bernabeu. The other four – José María Zárraga, Chendo, Manolo Sanchís, and José Antonio Camacho – spent their time with Real in the period between the 1950s and 1990s.Nevertheless, Nacho’s case reminded us of several players who remained faithful to their clubs and put their blood, sweat, and tears in only one jersey. The first name that comes to mind is Francesco Totti. The Prince of Rome received numerous offers – one of the most mentioned being Real Madrid’s – to leave Giallorossi, but he opted for loyalty even if that meant not winning trophies. In the end, Totti won only one Serie A, two Coppa Italia trophies, and two Italian Supercups.🇮🇹 AC Milan vs Roma 🇮🇹A great fixture for one-club men. pic.twitter.com/Ntiswdsugf— Classic Football Shirts (@classicshirts) October 26, 2020 We don’t have to travel far to find another example – Paolo Maldini. The second football shoot of the Maldini lineage spent as many as 25 years at San Siro (plus six years in youth categories) but was much more successful than his Italy teammate from Rome. In his 647 appearances, he won 23 trophies with Rossoneri, including seven Scudettos and five Champions Leagues. Although Nacho didn’t make it, Spain still has the representative among one-club men, only from Real’s fiercest rivals – Barcelona. Carles Puyol spent 15 seasons at Camp Nou and became the synonym for Blaugrana’s captain and soldier. He won six La Liga and three Champions League trophies before he hung up his football boots.One-club men 🔥 Who is your favourite?#DeRossi would leave this group soon… pic.twitter.com/FGtrGGrJxd— Emilio Sansolini (@EmilioSansolini) July 24, 2019 Former centre-back and now a famous pundit, Jamie Carragher joined Liverpool in 1988 at the age of 10 and debuted for the first team in 1996. Seventeen years later, Carra retired with several English cups and a 2005 Champions League trophy. Nevertheless, not winning the Premier League will remain the pebble in his shoe forever. Arsenal’s legendary skipper, Tony Adams, played for the Gunners from 1983 till 2002, winning eleven trophies in total. In 2011 he got the statue outside the Emirates Stadium and his nickname Mr Arsenal speaks volumes.Although he spent two years in Man City’s youth categories before joining the club from Old Trafford, Ryan Giggs played for Manchester United for 24 years and was an integral part of some of the best generations in Red Devils’ history under arguably the greatest United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The Welshman won 13 Premier Leagues, a number of English cups and two Champions Leagues.##NAJAVA_MECA_8180808##Finally, there are also several active players like Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao), or Sergi Roberto (Barcelona) who still haven’t changed their club colours, and we should honestly hope they don’t because football needs players like them.In the end, even though there is less and less romance in football and stories like this one may sound like fairy tale narratives, these names and the names of all the other one-club men (there are so many of them that it would take at least a year to mention them all), need to be saved from oblivion. If we don’t speak of them, who will inspire today’s youngsters and the ones to come to stay loyal to only one club and enter its legend?
