Missed Opportunities

Some of the world's best players to never grace the EPL

Thiago who chose Gaurdiola over United

The silly season is here and we all love it. Constant rumours, last minute gazumps and just pure nonsense surrounding footballer’s futures. PSG, Monaco, Manchester City and Real Madrid have all flexed their financial muscles with a total outlay of well over 300 million already and its only July. 

 For years the media has lapsed followers of the English Premier League into this sense of entitlement. All the best players want to come to England we thought. To a certain degree they may have been right but over the last few years the Spanish dominance, the ongoing growth of German football and the financial muscle of France/Russia has seen many players dismiss the EPL in favour of moves elsewhere. 

 So far this summer, Thiago had all but signed the contract to join United but ended up at Bayern Munching, Falcao to Chelsea was on the verge of completion when he decided he wanted to reside in the principality of Monaco and again the French League, this time in the form of PSG, signed big by brining in Edison Cavani pinching him from Man City.

 This isn't the first time supposedly completed moves fell through, whether a player changed their mind or another team came in last minute or the board backed out or even in some scenarios an ash cloud meant the flight was abandoned, numerous players have came very close to gracing the premier league but never quite did. With this in mind I have compiled a list of deals that Oh so nearly transpired. In order to qualify the player’s move must have been on the brink of completion and the player must have gone on to make a significant contribution to the game post the broken down move so for this reason proposed moves like Rivaldo to Bolton and Cannavaro to QPR have been discounted.

 Zidane to Blackburn/Newcastle 

Zizou joined Juventus

Zidane or Zizou quite famously almost joined Kenny Dalglish at Blackburn. Zidane was at the time applying his trade at Bordeaux and when Dalglish approach Jack Walker (Blackburn chairman), he infamously responded:"Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood” and so like that the transfer was nipped in the butt. To add insult to injury Zidane was offered to Newcastle at the beginning of the 1996 season for 1.2 million pounds, however he was not deemed worthy enough to play in England yet again. Three months later he signed for Juventus for 1.2 million and 2 years later he becomes a galactico at Real Madrid for the bargain price of 48 million pounds. As far as this one goes, have 2 clubs ever misjudged a player to this extent? Zidane would go on to win the World Cup with a man of the match performance in the final as well as a European Cup with France coupled with numerous club titles; 2 Serie A’s, a la Liga title and went on to score the winner in a Champions league final as well as coining his very own move, the Zizou Roulette and winning the Ballon D’or in 1998. Safe to say a ball was dropped here, more than once. 

 Xavi to Manchester United 

Xavi and his mentor

 This is a transfer that mirrors United’s attempts to sign Thiago. Like Thiago, Xavi was a young Barcelona man struggling to get a break in the first team as ironically his mentor Gaurdiola (the man responsible for Thiago joining Bayern!) made the position his own! “I needed a change of scenery and things were not going well at Barcelona. I have always felt a real attachment to English football and United would be my club in England.”… United were very much in the hunt! Gaurdiola got injured, Xavi got his break in the side and became Mr.Barcalona landing title after title for club and country becoming one of the best players and passers the world has ever seen. As if Gaurdiola hasn’t been a thorn in United’s side enough getting injured he would then manage a Barcelona side led by Xavi and co to two triumphant Champions league victories over, you guessed it, Manchester United. What did Man United ever do to you Pep?? 

 KAKA to Manchester United/Manchester City

According to Sir Alex Ferguson, United attempted to raid the Milan youth system by bringing in Kaka and his brother Digao, they decided to stay at Milan and United accepted this, perhaps they should have pushed a little harder to sign the Brazilian playmaker as he would prove United’s downfall in the 06/07 champions league semi final scoring 10 goals throughout the campaign. Kaka became a World Cup winner claiming numerous individual titles. Fast forward to 2009 and yet again an offer came in from England. This time Manchester City who offered 100m pounds for Kaka, Kaka snubbed city saying he dreamt of one day being Milan captain. A few months later Kaka would join Real Madrid for €65 million and the he hasn’t been a shade of his former self since. As a result of his poor form Sir Alex would come in again for Kaka but Mourinho blocked any deal from happening as he preferred Kaka to move to Russia/China for a fear of him finding his form back at a European rival. Hopefully new Madrid boss Ancelotti will restore this mercurial genius back to the Kaka of old and the Kaka that was so widely coveted. 

Ronaldhino to Manchester United/Manchester City

The idea to make this list was inspired by this Brazilian Samba genius, arguably the best player ever before the nightlife and booze caught up with him and even after 10 cocktails at the bar I bet he'd still have been the best technical player in England. So definite was Ronnie's move that French sources were said to be 99.9% sure the former PSG man would join Man United. So Manchester United fans who were already disgruntled at having lost Beckham to Madrid that summer were to be incensed when then Chief Executive Peter Kenyon lost out in a bidding war with Barcelona. The samba star joined the Catalan giants and after 2-world player of the years, a Champion’s league as well as 2 La Liga titles the fans of the premier league missed out on a great. Fast forward a few years and a few pounds later and yet again Ronnie turns down Manchester(City) for a move to the continent in the shape of AC Milan. 

They could have been on opposite sides in the EPL

Samuel Eto'o to Bolton 

 Yes, I know, Bolton you say. When you hear Samuel Eto’o to Bolton you ask yourself two questions. Firstly is this the same Bolton that currently resides in the Championship and secondly is the same Eto’o that played for Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan and is currently one of the highest paid players in the world with Anzhi Makhachkala. Surprisingly, yes is the answer to both questions. Now lets set the record straight, Big Sam likes tooting his own horn but the story goes the deal had been agreed however the 6.5 million pound price proved a stumbling block for the Bolton hierarchy and the deal fell through. It is thought that Bolton’s attempts to sign Eto’o came in 2001 after he had joined Mallorca on a permanent deal following a successful loan spell from Real Madrid. Whilst Bolton look back with regret at the missed opportunity to sign the promising 20 year old, there is no doubt Eto’o doesn’t share the regret, he now has 3 champions league medals with Barcelona(2) and Inter Milan (1) as well as numerous league titles, something I suspect Bolton might not have been able to offer!

 Lewandowski-Blackburn/West Brom/Man City/Man United 

Yet again forces more powerful than Big Sam (a considerable force it must have been) prevented this top coup coming to fruition. Lewandowski is an exception to this list in the fact he is young and could still end up at a Blackburn near you someday. So extraordinary is the story I ignored my own rules. Lewandowski was all set for a move to another Sam Allardyce team and had been seen in the home stand at a game against Everton. With a deal on the verge of completion, Mother Nature intervened or, to be precise, Iceland's Eyjafjallajofull volcano. Dortmund swooped in, nabbed their man, few Bundesliga titles later and Lewandowski is a year away from joining Germany's other ‘it’ club Bayern on a free who have beaten off competition from City and United. Three times a move to England for the big Pole has failed to materialise. Of all the teams he's been linked with no one has come as close as Big Sam's Blackburn and for a basement floor bargain of 4 million. 

 Ibrahimovic-Arsenal

He went as far as sampling the kit 

Is there a more consistently successful football player? If you want trophies you buy this man. In 2000, before Ibra’s big move to Ajax, he was extremely close to signing for the Gunners (and inevitably would have ended up at Man City therefore) , before such a deal could go ahead, Arsene insisted Ibra to join a trial training session with a view to signing him. Ibra who at the time was fairly unknown responded with an arrogant one-liner “Zlatan doesn’t do trials”. Zlatan’s infamous arrogance has since been justified going from club to club picking up titles and individual awards as if he’s Meryl Streep at the Oscars. His CV reads success. Over the last 11 seasons Ibra has won 10 European league titles for 6 difference clubs across 4 different leagues. The only blotches on his career is the missing Champion’s league medal which still could come at an ever improving PSG side and his apparent failure after his big money move to Barcelona. For 21 goals in 45 games and a La Liga title to be considered a failure just shows how unbelievable the rest of his career has been. For he is Zlatan and he does not do trials!