One that got away 🤦‍♂️ : Chelsea's huge Franck Ribéry bid | OneFootball

It’s 2009 and Franck Ribéry, now 26, finally seems settled.

A precocious talent, Ribéry bounced around France before moving to Galatasaray at 22, then swiftly heading back to his homeland to join Marseille.

After two seasons, his potential was finally being realised, and Bayern Munich came calling. Things went well in his first two seasons, with the Frenchman scoring 33 in 82 appearances and winning the double.

But Louis van Gaal had taken over in 2009. And a move to Chelsea may well have happened.

“The best bid came from Chelsea,” Uli Hoeneß told German reporters months later. Ribéry clearly wasn’t thrilled to be working under Van Gaal – he’d revealed as much in an interview with L’Équipe just two months into the Dutchman’s reign – but he hadn’t been desperate to leave either.

But how much was Chelsea’s offer?

“€65 million plus the player Bosingwa,” the Bayern president revealed.

As for Chelsea, well, just 18 months after their failed bid for Ribéry, they did break their club transfer record after all. The Blues spent €59m on Fernando Torres.

And while that didn’t go so well for anyone, it was Torres (and Bosingwa) who were lifting the Champions League trophy in Munich in 2012.

Talk about sliding doors.