Whilst doing research for an article about the decline of Romanian football, the story of Nicolae Dobrin came up. He was a brilliant footballer whose career began at 14 and he helped his fairly unknown site, Arges Pitesti, defeat the mighty Real Madrid in a European Cup tie. This prompted the Spanish club to make a bid to sign him, but the country’s dictator Nicolae Ceausescu blocked the move.

This story has sent me on a path of trying to find out which other players were prevented from sealing a possibly dream move by a tyrannical regime. I hope this offers a stark contrast to the drama and histrionics of today’s players who throw their toys out of the pram every time their clubs decline them a so-called “dream” move.

Eusebio

As in most cases, the humblest of backgrounds produce the most precious diamonds and Eusebio was no different. His life began in Maputo, which was part of Portuguese Mozambique at the time. He honed his skills on makeshift pitches with balls made from socks stuffed into newspapers and applied for a trial at Grupo Desportivo de Lourenço de Marques, a Benfica feeder team. Since he was rejected without any form of trial, young Eusebio went to local rivals Sporting Clube de Lourenço Marques, which was a Sporting feeder club.