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As Manchester City nurse their wounds over their failed attempt to sign AC Milan forward Kaka for a world record transfer fee of £108 million they are in good company when it comes to seeing opportunity knock but go unanswered, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham not immune from the odd mistake or two either.
1. Steven Gerrard (Chelsea)
The man almost as synonymous with Liverpool as the Beatles came close to leaving for the bright lights of London, and more specifically a credible title ambition, not once but twice.
In June 2004 his and Liverpool’s heads were turned by a £20 million offer, though it was a year later that Gerrard came closest to a move. A £32 million bid was tabled and Gerrard submitted a transfer request – only to have a change of heart that may or may not have had anything to do with threats received by his family and the sight of Liverpool fans burning a replica shirt with his name on it live on TV.
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2. Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
The summer of 2008 was characterised by deals that never happened, with Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Adebayor all flirting with foreign sorts before staying on these shores, but Ronaldo was the headline act.
Real Madrid pursued him mercilessly, Ronaldo egged them on with talk of how it was his ‘dream’ to play at the Bernabeu one day but, just as it looked like a £70 million deal was to be struck, Sir Alex Ferguson put his foot down and blocked any move, inflaming a bitter war of words between the two clubs that has spilled over in to this season. Expect more of the same in 2009.
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3. Gareth Barry (Liverpool)
As Aston Villa mount a credible challenge to the established top four in the Premier League, supporters of the club can be grateful for the intransigence of their manager Martin O’Neill.
After Barry’s performances for Villa earned him a recall to the England team, his performances alongside Steven Gerrard convinced Rafael Benitez that the partnership would be of benefit to his side and launched an aggressive bid for the player. A bitter war of words between the two mangers ensued, Barry put in a transfer request but, refusing to be bullied, O’Neill dug his heels in and kept his man. Barry was booed by some Villa fans on his return to action but has worked his way back in to their affections with some stellar performances and is once more the heartbeat of the team.
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4. Alan Shearer (Manchester United)
In their paean to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United fans sing the line, “Alan Shearer, was so much dearer, but please don’t take my Solskjaer away,” though the second time the Premier League’s most prolific goalscorer snubbed Sir Alex Ferguson it was for love not money.
Ferguson tried to sign Shearer first in 1992 when he was a tyro at Southampton, but then free-spending Blackburn spent £3.3 million of Jack Walker’s money on the British transfer record move. Shearer won the title – beating United in to second place – and scored 112 goals in 138 games before decamping to hometown team Newcastle United for another record fee, £15 million, once more spurning the chance to move to Old Trafford.
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5. Alfredo Di Stefano (Barcelona)
After a players’ strike in his native Argentina saw Di Stefano move to Colombia and continue to win titles at will, Barcelona came calling. However, a complicated set of arrangements over the player’s ownership, and some ham-fisted internecine squabbling during negotiations on the part of the Catalans allowed Real Madrid to steal in once the player was in Spain and sign him instead.
After appeals to Fifa a compromise was struck whereby the two rivals would share the player over four years, having a season at a time. The embarrassment to the Barcelona board led to resignations and the interim board cancelled the deal, allowing Real Madrid a free run at a player integral to the side that won the European Cup five years in a row from its inception in 1956.
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6. Paul Gascoigne (Manchester United)
After winning the Young Player of the Year award as a youthful Newcastle United player in 1988, Tottenham and United went head-to-head for his services.
Sir Alex Ferguson spoke with Gascoigne and received an assurance from him that a deal would be struck. However, on returning from holiday in the summer Ferguson was greeted with the news that Newcastle had gone ahead with the Tottenham offer, later explaining that, in the United manager’s belief, Tottenham had given Gascoigne’s family a house as a sweetener. Ferguson recently claimed that, had he joined United, ‘Gazza’ might have stood a better chance of fighting off the demons that haunt him still.
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7. Sir Tom Finney (Palermo)
Playing in a different age, Preston North End's Sir Tom Finney would baulk at the demands and avarice of modern players and their cabal of agents but his was probably the first major transfer snub in British football.
Earning just £14-a-week (he continued to work as a plumber for much of his career to supplement his income) the man who finished his one-club career with 76 England caps was approached by Palermo of Italy in 1952, with £30,000 offered to Preston and favourable personal terms for the player, including a £10,000 signing on fee. Preston refused him permission to talk to them. And that was that.
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8. Diego Maradona (Sheffield United)
In 1978, then United manger Harry Haslam was on a tour of South America when he came across a short, scruffy looking footballer whose talent he had never seen in England.
He immediately set up a deal to take Diego Armando Maradona to Bramall Lane and waited for the club to arrange the £200,000 needed to complete the transfer to be sent over. The club failed to deliver that amount, however, and so the deal was lost, United instead signing River Plate midfielder Alex Sabella for what was still a club-record £160,000.
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9. Samuel Eto’o (Tottenham)
With his relationship with Frank Rijkaard in tatters and Barcelona over-stocked in the striking department since the arrival of Thierry Henry, Eto’o’s time at the Nou Camp seemed at an end in 2008, with the club happy to listen to offers.
Tottenham – having already lost Jermain Defoe and about to sell Dimitar Berbatov – were at the front of the queue with the clubs ready to do business. However, Eto’o had other ideas, once he did a bit of research. “Tottenham, and I hope the English fans will forgive me, are a club in mid-table and I need more,” he said as the deal fell apart.
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10. Ronaldinho (Manchester United)
Another one that got away from Ferguson. In 2003 Ronaldinho topped most big European clubs’ wanted list and, with David Beckham ushered out of Old Trafford, Ferguson was confident of selling the club to the Brazilian.
Whether it was the football or the weather only Ronaldinho will know but he snubbed United for Barcelona – during his stay becoming Spanish, European and World Champion as well as twice being named World Player of the Year.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/top...ever-were.html