Villarreal have not been among football headliners for a while now. However, the club from a 50,000 Spanish town organized a presentation of Santi Cazorla that will probably be remembered by fans for a long time. The midfielder returned to his youth club after struggling with a long-term injury at Arsenal and was awarded with a warm welcome. In fact, it was such a warm welcome that smoke was coming from a glass tube he was in.. or.. was he actually in? It was an illusionist who completed the transfer of Cazorla to El Madrigal, setting the tube on fire and then getting the player out of it once the smoke has gone. Have a look at this incredible unveiling

But what are the other bizarre or weird unveilings of football players?

Many clubs, particularly English ones, have been lately using social media and messengers to present their new players. For example, when Aston Villa announced the arrival of experienced defender John Terry last summer, they used Twitter to demonstrated their fake WhatsApp conversation about the centre back:

Last summer Liverpool fans didn’t know Mohamed Salah would turn into Anfield idol and top striker with 32 goals in Premier League alone. His presentation was very modest but quite bizarre. The Egyptian goes through his Twitter page and sees dozens of messages calling for his announcement. In the end the player is convinced and says: ‘Salah announced’.

Roma announced the signing of Lorenzo Pellegrini through a video game rather than social media. An unidentified man plays a football simulator, scored a brilliant goal and it turns out than both the player who scored and the man who controls him is the club’s new signing Lorenzo Pellegrini. He would then pronounce: ‘Forza Roma!’

One of the most bizarre presentations ever was performed by Crystal Palace as they unveiled the new head coach Frank de Boer in the summer 2017. The club’s official twitter account demonstrated a small takeaway hut with white smoke going out of the chimney. It’s the sign, used by Vatican to announce the election of a new Pope. In correspondense to the weirdness of this presentation, Frank de Boer did not last at Crystal Palace, being sacked just 4 games into the season with no goals scored.

Some clubs, particularly Spanish ones, prefer to unveil players on the football pitch and make them perform some keepy uppies or other tricks in front of thousands of fans. Here is the video of some of the funniest fails during those presentations:

Clubs around the world have used different ways to present their stars and have been trying to get close to their audience by using modern media and messengers. While players and coaches must prove their worth on the pitch rather than in presentations, it’s still entertaining to watch some curious introductions.