How Jadon Sancho, Gerard Pique and Frenkie de Jong use WhatsApp for banter, transfers and even buying cars
WHEN Frenkie de Jong told his teammates he was moving to Barcelona for £65m in January, he chose to deliver that news using modern technology.
The talented Dutch midfielder simply opened up WhatsApp on his mobile phone, clicked on a group with all his Ajax pals in and spilled the tea.
His reasoning? He wanted to get the story to them before it was reported in the press.
"I did tell them before it was made public," back in January.
"We didn’t train the next day, so I thought that in case it was announced before I saw them next, I’d send them a message before they read about it in the media."
And the 21-year-old isn't the only young player relying on the free messaging service to communicate with the footballing world.
Overseas Brits Jadon Sancho and Reiss Nelson, who have both starred in the Bundesliga this season, use WhatsApp to spur each other on.
Nelson divulged: “We message each other every day. If he’s got a game a day before mine, I’m like, ‘Sanch, you know what you have to do’.”
Chelsea's loanees - all 41 of them - have a WhatsApp group they use to keep in contact with each other, wherever they are in the world.
While Barcelona's seasoned defender Gerard Pique, and serial wind-up merchant, just uses it as a tool to "talk s***" to his international teammates, who also happen to play for Real Madrid.
THE GOOD
WhatsApp launched in 2009, and has gone on to become one of the biggest apps in the world.
It allows the user to connect with their contacts by texting and calling for free, as long as they're connected to Wi-fi, anywhere in the globe.
Currently being used by over one and a half billion people in countries as far as Brazil and India, Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg understood its worth and bought the company for around £15billion in 2014.
It wasn't long before the football world cottoned on and started using it. “We get team news from the manager if our training time has changed,” de Jong explained.
“And if there’s a match that everyone’s watching, people talk about it.”
Pique, 32, revealed he made a group for players on the Spanish national team who play for Barcelona or their bitter rivals Real Madrid.
He wrote on : "All we do in that group is talk s*** to one another about Barça and Real. It’s the best.
"Last season, when Real’s guys were winning everything, they were feeling pretty good.
"They were just talking s*** constantly. This season, though, it’s a different vibe – their Instagram photos are looking sombre.
"So, I’m texting them in the WhatsApp group: ‘Come on, why so serious?!’ Then I put a crying emoji and a laughing emoji."
All we do in that group is talk s*** to one another about Barça and Real. It’s the best."
Gerard Pique
BUYING CARS
When it comes to shopping for a new motor, footballers want it easy. And that's where WhatsApp comes into play.
Premier Sports Solution car dealer Richard Clark has sold cars to the likes of Jack Wilshere, Oliver Giroud and Callum Wilson, and he revealed how players like to business done.
"I must've sold hundreds of cars over WhatsApp," Clark told us.
"Because, to be honest, footballers don't want to walk into a showroom.
"They're not interested in sitting down with someone with a suit on.
"They want to ring someone or message someone and say, 'This is what I want, can you make it happen?'"
CHELSEA'S LOANERS
When you're a professional club, and you have players out on loan, it's always hard to keep track on how everyone is doing.
That's why the Blues have a WhatsApp group set up specifically for their promising stars of tomorrow.
“It’s designed to help all players feel part of the same process,” Eddie Newton, Chelsea's loan technical coach, said.
“We have a lot of players out on loan. These youngsters are big products for the club and we are regularly monitoring their progress and their games.
"The group helps everyone to stay closer together regardless of where they are playing. It’s a big help.
“It’s used after games, if players have scored or won man of the match. A lot of these players have grown up together and know each other well, so they feel really comfortable using this kind of platform.
"We’ll have our say as well, if we want to get a message through to them. This is a massive tool for us and it’s proving to be a big success.”
We have a lot of players out on loan. These youngsters are big products for the club and we are regularly monitoring their progress and their games. The group helps everyone to stay closer together regardless of where they are playing. It’s a big help."
Eddie Newton
AGENTS LOVE IT TOO
Last transfer deadline day, you can bet that the intricate details of many deals were discussed using WhatsApp.
And, of course, the benefit is that clubs and agents are saving thousands of pounds on their phone bills.
"When a transfer is unfolding, footballers and agents speak to each other on it; agents speak to other agents; and execs speak to each other as well," football lawyer Daniel Geey said.
“A lot of the finer details are worked out on WhatsApp, when before it would have been over email or phone.
"Voice and video options also come into play, especially when you may have foreign agents who don’t want to spend thousands and thousands of pounds making endless international calls.
"Now, they’re good as long as they have WiFi. It makes you available.
“Picture messages are used a lot now, too. A club might want the mandate for a player from an agent, and he can send a photo.
"Or, an agent and club may want to know where a player is physically, and he can send a WhatsApp pic – ‘about to get on a plane’".
THE BAD, THE UGLY
Last year, when Roy Keane was still assistant manager with Republic of Ireland, he had and Jonathan Walters.
The former Man United legend was apparently unhappy to see the two internationals sitting out training with injuries, and was said to have called Arter a "p****" and a "c***", while he reportedly told Walters: "You’re getting soft, it’s no wonder (Sean) Dyche doesn’t play ya."
That story only came to the public's attention after a WhatsApp voice note recorded on Burnley star Stephen Ward's mobile was leaked on social media.
In his book How To Be A Footballer, Peter Crouch spoke about the demoralising feeling he felt when he was dropped by England and then the players' WhatsApp group.
“The England senior squad has its own group with its own brutal logic," he wrote.
"Get called up and you are added; get dropped and suddenly the message is on everybody’s phone: ‘Peter Crouch has left this group’.”
Tragically, the final words of Emiliano Sala were also captured on the messaging service before his plane fatally crashed on route to Cardiff.
GIRL TALK
Last month, we reported how Premier League stars are participating in a WhatsApp game where points are awarded for performing degrading sex acts on unsuspected partners.
Footballers could score the points for slapping or spitting on conquests, while filming their romps and sharing them with a group of other players.
Shamed paedophile Adam Johnson, who was found guilty of sexual activity with a 15-year-old, as well as child grooming in 2016, had also used the app to send 834 messages to his victim, according to the prosecution.
And Sao Paulo star Daniel Correa Freitas, who was found dead in a bush with his throat slit and genitals cut off last October, had sent messages on WhatsApp to his pals in bed with a blonde woman.
It was alleged he was murdered by the woman's husband who had caught his wife cheating.
