😰 When Instagram backfires: players who used socials to get sold 📲

Ademola Lookman had a strong reaction at the exact moment Atalanta rejected the offer of 42 million euros plus 3 million in bonuses advanced by Inter.

The striker removed from his Instagram profile every single photo that linked him to the Orobici, deleting the Goddess from his bio and also removing the profile picture. An unmistakable signal to ask for a transfer, the "respect" of the pact according to which in case of a suitable offer the Nigerian would have left.

‼️‼️ Ademola Lookman ha tolto la foto profilo, ha smesso di seguire l'Atalanta e rimosso le foto in maglia della Dea su Instagram. pic.twitter.com/ARyhFV2fJx

— InterHub (@InterHubOff) August 1, 2025

Now the company must decide how to proceed, cornered by the player who is doing everything to force the transfer. It is not the first time in recent years that we see social media, and IG in particular, become a tool in the hands of players to break with clubs and ask to leave.

It is not the first and will not be the last time that such an attitude is adopted by a player. Just today, Dutch winger Xavi Simons, targeted by Chelsea, also decided to remove from his Instagram bio any reference to Chelsea. Below we remember the various precedents.

Viktor Gyokeres with Sporting

The most recent case is that of Viktor Gyokeres who, in an attempt to force the then successful transfer to Arsenal, did not show up for the training scheduled by Sporting Lisbon and to accentuate his choice had removed from his Instagram bio any reference to the Portuguese club.

Viktor Gyokeres has now officially removed Sporting off of his Insta bio, surely it’s a matter of hours. Right 😉 pic.twitter.com/PbwofroMAy

— 2SAFC (@2SAFC) July 6, 2025

This greatly soured the relationship, prompting President Frederico Varandas to threaten to keep him in Portugal for years if an adequate offer did not arrive. In the end, the 63.5 million euros plus 10 bonus put on the table by the Gunners were enough to unlock the situation and bring the striker back to the Premier League.

Memphis Depay with Manchester United

Going back in time we find perhaps one of the first cases. It's 2016 and Memphis Depay, at the end of an extremely disappointing season at Manchester United, removes every single Instagram image that portrays him with the club's colors. So far it seems like a fairly standard story, but there's a twist.

In addition to acting in this way towards the Red Devils, the Dutchman who had been criticized several times by then-coach Louis van Gaal and did not plausibly have a good relationship with the rest of the locker room also involved his teammates. He unfollowed all the players who were part of the squad. A dramatic gesture, which led him to play just 4 games in the second half of the season. He was then sold to Lyon at the beginning of 2017.

Matheus Cunha with Wolverhampton

Returning to modern times, here is another of the most expensive purchases in the Premier League involved. Matheus Cunha 4 months ago used social media to send a warning to Wolverhampton ahead of the summer.

"It's time to be happy, I'll follow my dreams and not yours." Time has proven the Brazilian striker right, who achieved the goal of playing with Manchester United.

United involved again, this time for Sancho

Following one of the many arguments with Erik ten Hag that effectively marked the end of his relationship with Manchester United, Jadon Sancho also had an extreme social reaction. In this case, the English striker's choice was to delete all content from his Instagram profile, a tool to express discontent.

Same case but different, Nunez with Liverpool

Then there is another case to tell, where the gesture was the same but the motivation is a bit broader and deeper than a simple transfer request. We are talking about Darwin Nunez. That his relationship with Liverpool was not idyllic is true now and was true more than a year ago, when the incident occurred. But the reason is not so immediate.

Darwin Nunez has removed all of his recent Liverpool pictures off his Instagram. pic.twitter.com/cXLjYleBmC

— Anfield Sector (@AnfieldSector) May 5, 2024

Following the match with Tottenham, after being heavily criticized by the environment for a series of missed goals, the Uruguayan reacted by removing from his recent feed any content related to the Reds' universe. It was a case that then subsided over the summer.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.

📸 Marco Luzzani - 2025 Getty Images