'I joined Arsenal over Chelsea and Spurs - it was the most terrible choice I ever made'
Mel Charles' transfer to Arsenal set a record for the biggest transfer between British clubs in 1959, but the Welshman described the move to north London as the worst decision he ever made
Mel Charles once admitted that his record-breaking transfer to Arsenal ranked as the "most terrible choice I ever made". The former footballer - who passed away aged 81 in 2016 - enjoyed a 20-year career that included captaining Wales and representing his nation at the 1958 World Cup, where they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Brazil, with Pelé scoring the sole goal in a 1-0 win.
It was only a year after the competition in Sweden that Charles, who had spent seven years in the Second Division, secured a £42,750 move from boyhood club Swansea City to the north London side, who were in the First Division, amid reported interest from Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
The transfer set a record as the biggest deal brokered between two British clubs and happened just two years after Juventus had paid Leeds United £65,000 for his older brother, John Charles.
However, the big-money move for the younger Charles didn't work out. Due to constant ligament injuries, he played just 64 games for the Gunners in three years while scoring 28 goals.
In his ghosted autobiography, Charles was particularly scathing of his own decision to join the club, claiming "signing for Arsenal was the most terrible choice I ever made." He cut ties with the club in 1962 and returned to Wales, signing for Cardiff City for £28,500.
It was in the Welsh capital that Charles captured the only domestic honour of his career, when he won the Welsh Cup in 1964. After three years with Cardiff, he spent the last few years of his career in the lower divisions of football, enjoying stints with the likes of Porthmadog, Port Vale, Oswestry Town and Haverfordwest.
He ended up retiring at the Welsh club in 1972 after a five-year stint. Charles ended up with a record of 122 goals in 401 league and cup games in the Football League. John followed in the footsteps of his sibling by also returning home to Wales to retire in 1974 after spending two years playing for Merthyr Tydfil.
However, he only did so after a legendary career where he became an iconic figure for both Leeds United and Juventus. The centre-forward scored 154 goals in 317 games for Leeds before venturing into Italian football where he was a massive success.
In the five years he spent in Turin, Charles netted 105 goals in 179 games and won three Serie A titles and two Coppa Italias. Charles passed away at the age of 71 in 2004 but remains a celebrated figure in Welsh football and was named by Stan Collymore among the greatest players in British history when rubbishing claims that Gareth Bale is the greatest player to ever emerge from these shores.
The former Liverpool and Nottingham Forest star said in 2023: "It’s quite bizarre because of how many Champions Leagues he has won and the run he went on at Spurs that turned him from someone who couldn’t win a Premier League game to a tour de force.
"And because of the trophies you have to put him in amongst the greatest ever. But I look at Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, John Charles — which would obviously mean a lot to Bale — Ian Rush, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard and, I don’t know what it is, whether it’s this perceived laissez faire attitude of ‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order’, but I can’t put him in with some of those."