10 Football Players Who Were Nearly One Club Men
5. Javier Zanetti
Once again, this is a player that began life at a different club to the one he's most commonly associated with.
The Buenos Aires-born defender started his career with Talleres, though he would only spend just one season there before moving onto another Argentinian club, Banfield. Here, he lasted two seasons before his dream European move emerged.
At the age of 22, Zanetti joined Inter Milan, where he enjoyed a 19-year career before retiring in 2014.
He showed great versatility in his career, making at least 50 appearances in four different positions, operating primarily as a right full-back.
Zanetti captained the Nerazzurri through their most successful period in recent memory; from 2005/06 to 2009/10, Inter won five consecutive Serie A titles, 2 Italian Cups, 3 Italian Super Cups, 1 FIFA Club World Cup and 1 UEFA Champions League.
Safe to say that Javier Zanetti led one of the greatest and most successful teams of all time.
Outside of this period, he won another four pieces of silverware, though the 143-capped defender never won anything with Argentina despite reaching three Copa America finals.
However, nothing lasts forever, and we are all aware of Inter's subsequent drop-off. Following their slip from the very top of Italian football, Zanetti retired to become Inter's Vice President.