Crossing the divide: players who played for both rivals

Four players have played Premier League football for both Arsenal and Tottenham. Only two have done it for Liverpool and Manchester United. The full lists, rivalry by rivalry.

Moving directly between rivals is rare in English football. Players do still end up on both sides of a derby, usually via other clubs, after a few years away, or because one side of the rivalry was in a different division at the time. This article lists every player in our records who has made Premier League appearances for both clubs in a major rivalry.

The rule is the same for every rivalry. The player must have appeared in the Premier League for both clubs. Games in other divisions or cup competitions do not count, and neither does a spell on the books without a league appearance.

Arsenal and Tottenham: four players

Sol Campbell’s free transfer from Tottenham to Arsenal in 2001 is the most famous move between them, and it remains the defining example of crossing a divide in the Premier League era. William Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor both went the other way. Gallas moved from Arsenal to Tottenham in 2010, and Adebayor got there via Manchester City and a loan at Real Madrid. David Bentley came through Arsenal’s academy and played a handful of league games there before his career took off at Blackburn and Tottenham.

Liverpool and Everton: six players

Nick Barmby’s direct move from Everton to Liverpool in 2000 is the best remembered. Abel Xavier made the same move in 2002. The goalkeeper Sander Westerveld went the other way, years after leaving Liverpool, with a short loan at Everton in 2006. Conor Coady is a newer case. He came through Liverpool’s academy and made one Premier League appearance there, then spent a season on loan at Everton in 2022/23.

Manchester United and Manchester City: five players

Carlos Tévez’s move from United to City in 2009 changed the feel of the Manchester derby. City celebrated it with a billboard reading “Welcome to Manchester”. The others crossed more quietly. Andy Cole and Peter Schmeichel joined City late in their careers, and Owen Hargreaves’s one season at City came after injuries had wrecked his time at United.

Liverpool and Manchester United: two players

This is the rarest crossing of all. Paul Ince went from United to Inter Milan, then came back to England with Liverpool in 1997. Michael Owen joined United on a free transfer in 2009, five years after leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid. Nobody has moved directly between the two clubs in the Premier League era.

Newcastle and Sunderland: twelve players

The Tyne–Wear derby has the longest list here, partly because the two clubs have spent so many seasons as near neighbours in the table. Andy Cole (415 total Premier League appearances), Titus Bramble, Louis Saha, Danny Rose, Jack Colback, Sung-yueng Ki, Javier Manquillo, DeAndre Yedlin, Steven Caldwell, Michael Bridges, Paul Bracewell and Michael Chopra all played for both. Jack Colback’s 2014 free transfer from Sunderland to Newcastle is the one supporters remember.

Aston Villa and Birmingham City: seven players

Emile Heskey, Dwight Yorke, Kevin Phillips, Craig Gardner, Liam Ridgewell, Chris Sutton and Curtis Davies have all played for both Second City clubs in the Premier League. Ridgewell’s direct move from Villa to Birmingham in 2007 is the one most often cited as a betrayal on the Villa side.

Chelsea and Tottenham, and Arsenal and Chelsea

London rivalries cross far more often, mostly because the clubs buy from each other more. Ten players have played for both Chelsea and Tottenham, including Scott Parker, William Gallas, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Gustavo Poyet, Conor Gallagher and Timo Werner. Arsenal and Chelsea is the busiest crossing of all, with 19 players. They include Petr Čech, Ashley Cole, Cesc Fàbregas, Olivier Giroud, David Luiz, Jorginho, Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling.

William Gallas is the only player to appear in three of these lists. He played for Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham, which puts him on both sides of the North London derby and of two London rivalries besides.

Why these make good questions

Grids like the one in Football Tic-Tac-Toe love a rivalry square, because most fans’ instinct is that the answer is “nobody”. Liverpool × Manchester United has only two possible answers in the Premier League era, and both are famous enough to count, which makes it a fair but tough square. Arsenal × Tottenham has four. Newcastle × Sunderland has twelve, and most fans can name only a couple.

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Sources and method

Appearances and goals are league matches only, from Transfermarkt’s season-by-season player records, as used by the games on this site. Figures were checked on 2 November 2026 against data collected on 24 October 2026, early in the 2026/27 season, so totals for players still active will have moved on since.

Total appearances are each player’s Premier League career total across all clubs, not only the two rivals.