Alexander Isak, Harry Kane, Carlos Tevez and the big-name players who went on strike and refused to play

Pierre van Hooijdonk went on strike at Nottingham Forest during the summer of 1998, but his issues with the club and its manager, Dave Bassett, actually began the previous December.

"I had the opportunity to go to PSV and I told Bassett I wasn’t satisfied with the whole setup," the former Netherlands international later revealed in an interview with Four Four Two. "He said: 'I can’t let you go, we want to get back to the Premier League, you’re top goal-scorer, I cannot defend myself if I sell you.'

"I said: 'OK but I want to go after the season.' He said: 'Get us back to the Premier League and we'll let you go.'"

They didn't, though. Despite Van Hooijdonk firing Forest back into the English top-flight with 29 goals in 42 games, the club's owners refused to sanction his sale, prompting Van Hooijdonk to take matters into his own hands. The disgruntled Dutchman returned to his homeland to train with former club NAC Breda and didn't return to the City Ground until November. By that stage, Forest were already struggling, and when Bassett was fired in January 1999, the manager blamed 'player power' for his dismissal.

However, Van Hooijdonk's only regret is not waiting until August 1998 before going on strike and, to this day, has zero sympathy for Bassett. "He was a rat, a snake, and he still keeps saying things about me," Van Hooijdonk said. "He is the worst I've come across."

Paul Scholes rarely put a foot wrong during his trophy-laden career at Manchester United, but he knew that he erred badly the night he refused to travel with the rest of the squad for a Worthington Cup clash with Arsenal in November 2001.

The England international had been annoyed by Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to leave him on the bench for 77 minutes of the Premier League loss to Liverpool the day before and couldn't understand why he was likely to be the "only first-teamer" to be called up for the trip to north London.

"I was p*ssed off," Scholes admitted on The Overlap years later. "We were meeting at Stockport that night at the train station. I actually drove to the train station and told him I wasn’t going. It was crazy, stupid, but my head had gone. After that game, it was an international break, so it went on and on, and on.

"There was no contact because I was with England, so I had to wait 10 days before I spoke to him. He didn't get mad but he did fine me two weeks' wages. I apologised but I didn’t think I would survive after that, to be honest. I thought I would be gone."

Scholes need not have worried, though; the gifted midfielder would go on to spend another 12 years at his hometown club!

There are acrimonious exits and then there's William Gallas leaving Chelsea for Arsenal in September 2006. In an extraordinary statement issued by the Blues after the transfer, which saw Ashley Cole move in the opposite direction, they claimed that the Frenchman had, among other things, rejected "a substantial and attractive new contract" while "hawking himself to the highest bidder".

Chelsea also alleged that Gallas had "refused to play against Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final in an effort to force an increased offer". Most shockingly of all, though, the Blues accused Gallas of threatening to sabotage his own side if he were selected for the club's 2006-07 Premier League opener against Manchester City.

"He said if he was forced to play, or if he was disciplined and financially punished for his breach of the rules, that he could score an own-goal or get himself sent off, or make deliberate mistakes," the Chelsea statement read. "Clearly this was a totally unacceptable situation. So, a collectively agreed solution in Chelsea's interests had to be found; hence his departure."

Gallas was unsurprisingly outraged by these claims. "I am surprised and shocked," the defender told reporters. "I certainly never said I'd try and score an own-goal if I ever played for Chelsea again. I was very firm in my desire to leave - that's clear - and I've already explained why. But I never went that far.

"If people want to hide behind these ridiculous accusations to explain why I left to keep onside with their club's supporters, that's what they do. I don't think it'll fool anybody."

Julien Faubert attracted the attention of a number of British clubs during his time at Bordeaux and, during the summer of 2007, both West Ham and Rangers were keen on signing a player who had made his France debut the previous August.

Les Girondins weren't particularly keen on letting the right-back leave, but Faubert had no intention of staying at the Stade Chaban-Delmas, so he went on strike.

"Sometimes you have to take extreme measures," he told RMC Sport after completing a move to West Ham. "I used [the strike] to show my unhappiness. It was not a lack of respect towards the club. I will never disassociate myself from Bordeaux, because they are a club who have been enormously useful to me in my career, who made me progress and allowed me to become an international. They remain a club very dear to me, like Cannes where I started."

Indeed, despite his questionable behaviour, Faubert actually returned for a second spell at Bordeaux in 2013. 

Javier Mascherano dedicated Barcelona's Wembley win over Manchester United in the 2011 Champions League final to Liverpool fans, whom he acknowledged were still upset with him over the nature of his Anfield exit a year earlier.

The versatile Argentinian midfielder had handed in a transfer request just before the Premier League meeting with Manchester City on August 23, 2010 and refused to play in the game at Eastlands in a bid to try to force the Reds to sell him to Barcelona.

"We’d spoken about extending my contract, but it seemed like the directors didn’t care about me," Mascherano told Four Four Two. "In the pre-season after Rafa [Benitez] left, Roy Hodgson arrived. We had a meeting with the managing director, Christian Purslow, who told me I could go if a good offer came in. Then there was an offer on the table, but Liverpool were looking the other way.

"I was quite angry that they weren’t keeping their word. Refusing to play at City was the way I found to show my annoyance. I’d told the club I wanted to leave for family reasons, so I was very upset to have to act the way I did. There was no other option – otherwise, Liverpool wouldn't have kept their promise."

Carlos Tevez's time at Manchester City was nothing if not dramatic. He'd already publicly criticised Roberto Mancini's training methods and had a transfer request rejected by the club when things reached boiling point on September 27, 2011 as, according to Mancini, Tevez refused to come on as a substitute during the second half of a Champions League clash with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

"If I have my way, he will be out of the club," the Italian told reporters. "But, in the next few days, we will speak with Khaldoon al-Mubarak. It is normal. He is the chairman. He decides everything.

"If I decided, yes [he would leave]. He wanted to leave last year. I helped him for two years every time. He refused to play. I cannot accept this behaviour from him. I decide the substitutions, not Carlos. Do you think at Bayern Munich one player can play like this? Or Milan or Manchester United? No. There were 30 minutes to the end. There was time to change the game."

Tevez, though, insisted that it had all been one big misunderstanding: "I have always given my best for the club. In Munich, I had warmed-up and was ready to play. This is not the right time to get into specific details as to why this did not happen. But I wish to state that I never refused to play. There was some confusion on the bench and I believe my position may have been misunderstood. Going forward I am ready to play when required and to fulfil my obligations."

Tevez, though, was initially suspended and then placed on 'gardening leave' for an indefinite period of time. However, after failing to secure a move away from Manchester during the winter transfer window, Tevez was actually welcomed back into the squad by Mancini following an apology for his conduct and went on to play his part in City winning the 2011-12 Premier League title.

In January 2017, Dimitri Payet made it clear to manager Slaven Bilic that he no longer had any desire to play for West Ham after the club rejected a £19m bid from former club Marseille for his services. Bilic, though, was adamant that the forward would not be sold.

"It's not a money issue or anything," the Croat explained. "We want to keep our best players. I spoke to the chairman and this is not a money issue. We gave him a long contract because we want him to stay. I expect from him to come back and to show commitment and determination to the team like the team has shown to him."

Payet had other ideas, though, and his disruptive behaviour ultimately left West Ham with no other option than to accept an improved offer from Marseille for the France international.

"I know how to be a d*ckhead; it is one of my specialities,” Payet told So Foot after returning to the Velodrome. "It's a little game. When I want to p*ss everyone off, I do it. My managers understood that: when I sulk, they talk to me. It's a way for me to be heard. Those who know me play along, and, in the end, it goes well."

Riyad Mahrez made it very clear in June 2017 that he wanted out of Leicester City, declaring that he was "fiercely ambitious" and searching for a "new experience" elsewhere. However, the Foxes rejected all advances for the winger during the summer window and also turned down a £50m bid from Manchester City in January 2018.

It was at that point that Mahrez effectively went AWOL. However, the Algerian insisted that Leicester were aware of his location at all times and also denied going on strike, claiming that he merely "needed some time to think".

"You'll always have regrets," Mahrez told Sky Sports after rejoining his team-mates in training in February 2018, "but at that time I thought it was the best thing to do. I spoke with the players, I spoke with the manager, I spoke with everyone. Everyone was OK, was good.

"I've always been in contact with the club. The club handled it very well. It was a difficult situation. Now it's the past, it's behind."

Mahrez's desire to move hadn't gone away, though, and he belatedly secured his move to Man City less than six months later. 

Manchester City first tried to sign Harry Kane from Tottenham during the summer of 2020, but their offer was immediately rejected, much to the attacker's disappointment. However, after meeting with Daniel Levy, Kane was left with the impression that he would be allowed to leave at the end of the following season.

The Spurs chairman's interpretation of their 'gentleman's agreement' was very different, though. As far as Levy was concerned, he had merely committed to entertaining future offers for his most prized possession - and made zero guarantees about actually accepting one.

So it came to pass that when Spurs rejected another bid from City in 2021, an irate Kane delayed his return for pre-season training in the hope of pressuring Levy into selling him before the close of the summer transfer window.

Unsurprisingly, the ploy did not work and, after sitting out Spurs' first two games of the 2021-22 campaign, Kane reluctantly returned to work.

"I will be staying at Tottenham this summer and will be 100 per cent focused on helping the team achieve success," the England international tweeted.

Wolves had no issue selling Matheus Nunes during the summer of 2023, so long as a club were willing to meet their asking price. What they did have a major problem with, though, was the midfielder's refusal to turn up for training while they got their Premier League campaign under way.

Wolves transfer chief Matt Hobbs felt Nunes' conduct was completely uncalled for and utterly unnecessary - which was a view shared by manager Gary O'Neil.

"I know players nowadays have a lot of people advising them on how best to do things," he told talkSPORT. "As a club, we were always really clear on how the process would go. We had a valuation for Matheus. We also had things we needed to try and get in place to make sure we could replace him within the next few days.

"So if the offer got to the level we were happy with, we were always going to give Matheus our blessing and allow him to move on. And the way the player behaves in that situation doesn’t change that. It doesn’t bring the price down, it doesn’t make us more keen to do it or not do it.

"There are a lot of things that go into a player moving clubs, especially at that time in the window, but [Nunes' behaviour] was not how I would have chosen to do it."