12 Players Who Played For Both Arsenal And Manchester City
7. Paul Dickov
Arsenal – 1990-1996 (26 apps)
Man City – 1996-2002 & 2006-2008 (131 apps)
Dickov started his career with Arsenal, where he won the UEFA Cup Winners Cup in 1994, but often struggled to hold a place in the first team and spent time on loan with Luton Town and Brighton & Hove Albion before moving to Manchester City in 1996 who were then in Division One.
Over six seasons at the club, Dickov experienced two promotions and two relegations, playing in three different divisions. Dickov’s most memorable goal, a 15-yard, top-corner injury-time equalizer, came in the final of the promotion playoffs against Gillingham. Dickov’s 95th-minute goal took the game to extra time, and the Manchester team ultimately won to earn promotion to the First Division.
On 22 February 2002, he moved to Leicester City for £150,000. Dickov re-joined Manchester City on 26 May 2006, signing a two-year contract. He was released by the club at the end of the 2007-08 season.
6. David Rocastle
Arsenal – 1985-1992 (275 apps)
Man City – 1993-1994 (23 apps)
Rocastle is seen as an iconic and legendary figure by many fans of the Gooners, with his name being emblazoned upon the stadium of the club.
He won two league titles with Arsenal, including one of the most dramatic of all time in 1989, when Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield in the final match of the season, meaning they won the league on goals scored. Rocastle played in every game that season.
In 1992, after nearly a decade at Arsenal, Rocastle was sold to reigning league champions Leeds United. After two seasons with Leeds United, he joined City, where he made 21 Premier League games. City finished 16th in Rocastle’s one season at the club, and they sold him to Chelsea for £1.25 million. He sadly passed away in 2001, aged just 33, after suffering from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
5. Niall Quinn
Arsenal – 1983-1990 (93 apps)
Man City – 1990-1996 (240 apps)
Niall Quinn joined Arsenal as a youth player from Manortown United in 1983. It wasn’t until 1985–86 that he made his first team debut for the club. He won the League Cup with them before leaving the club in 1990 for Manchester City.
At City, he scored on his debut, against Chelsea, and went on to bag 22 in his first season under Howard Kendall. He went on to spend six years at the club, scoring 78 goals in 245 appearances. Quinn left for Sunderland for a club-record fee of £1.3 million in 1996.
4. Emmanuel Adebayor
Arsenal – 1997-1999 (90 apps)
Man City – 2002-05 (103 apps)
Arsenal signed Adebayor in 2003 for a reported £3m. The Togolese striker scored 62 goals for Arsenal and was named in the PFA Team of the Year in 2007. Adebayor put pen to paper on a new long-term contract at Arsenal in 2008 but left the club in the following year.
He signed a five-year contract with Manchester City in 2009, but only lasted three, and almost half of that was on loan. Adebayor got off to a flyer when he scored in his opening four City games, becoming one of only six players to do so for a new club. But it went downhill from there.
His most memorable moment was when he scored against Arsenal and ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of his old fans. He is definitely one of the most controversial players who played both for Arsenal and Manchester City.