Top 5 football transfers that almost happened | OneFootball

Throughout the years, football has provided some of the most influential and shocking transfers that have propelled individual and team history to new heights, but what are the top 5 football transfers that almost happened?

For every Erling Haaland to Manchester City or Alan Shearer to Newcastle United, there are some absolutely baffling moves that look wild in hindsight, even if they didn’t actually happen.

We’ll be looking at some of these in this article and giving our own ranking of the top 5 football transfers that almost happened across the globe!

Here are our picks for the top 5 football transfers that almost happened, including clubs in the Premier League, Scottish Premier and beyond.

5) Robert Lewandowski to Blackburn Rovers (2010)

Robert Lewandowski is one of the most prolific strikers of the modern era, racking up over 500 career goals in just under 700 games, so it is safe to say he is a legend in the game, dominating the Bundesliga for up to a decade now.

However, the situation could have been very different for the Polish hitman.

In 2010, Lewandowski was relatively unknown in Europe and was playing for Lech Poznan, where he had just come off a season of scoring 21 goals in 35 games in all competitions.

Blackburn Rovers manager at the time, Sam Allardyce, convinced the English side to put in a £4 million bid for the striker. The Polish side accepted, and all that was left to do was for Lewandowski to fly to England and complete a medical.

However, an unexpected volcanic eruption around Iceland would see the ash prevent the plane from entering Britain. Therefore the transfer couldn’t be completed.

This would then see Lewandowski join Borussia DortmundBayern Munich, where he would score 344 goals in 374 games.

4) Rivaldo to Bolton Wanderers (2004)

Rivaldo was best remembered for his spell at Barcelona, where he won the Balon d’Or in 1999 and helped guide them to multiple trophies. Also, he would lift the FIFA World Cup with Brazil in 2002.

However, a move to AC Milan would make his career stagnant and begin to decline before the proposition came in 2004 from Bolton Wanderers manager at the time, Allardyce, who had proposed that Rivaldo join the English side.

At the time, Bolton had a strong side, with the likes of Jay-Jay Okocha in the ranks.  Rivaldo himself was even interested in the deal and wanted to get Bolton into European football.

However, the move wasn’t to be, and the former Balon d’Or winner joined Greek side Olympiakos.

3) Ronaldo to Rangers (1997)

Over the years, Rangers have been involved with some lucrative deals that almost came to pass, with the Scottish club showing interest and making offers for Barcelona legends such as Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi when they were just progressing out of the academy

However, probably the most unexpected of all was Brazillian forward Ronaldo.

In 1997, Ronaldo was one of the most prolific strikers in world football. After a scintillating goal-scoring season for Barcelona, where he netted 47 goals in 49 games, he was on the radar of many European teams.

Rangers even offered the forward to only play European games if he wished, but the superstar would opt for Serie A giants Inter Milan where he would go on to guide them to a UEFA Cup win in his first season.

2) Kaka – Manchester City (2009)

2009 saw Manchester City’s huge financial takeover backed by Sheikh Mansour begin to take shape. Manchester City, in this era, has brought in huge names in the world of football, with the likes of Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and more heading to the blue side of Manchester.

What was surprising was that in 2009 City wanted AC Milan superstar and Balon d’Or winner Kaka.

Kaka was deemed to be another successor who would retire a legend at AC Milan, but a huge bid from City rocked the Italian giants.

The offer was accepted, and it seemed like the Brazilian star was set to be wearing sky blue for the upcoming season.

However, Kaka didn’t feel the move was right and opted to join Real Madrid for around £56 million, which at that point was a world-record transfer.

1) Zinedine Zidane to Blackburn Rovers (1997)

Like Rangers, Blackburn Rovers have been close to signing many superstars in the past.

A huge mention is Real Madrid and France legend Zinedine Zidane, who was set to sign for Blackburn in 1997.

Kenny Dalglish, after winning the 1995 Premier League Title, wanted to add Zidane, who was just making his presence known at Bordeaux. However, owner Jack Walker turned down the request after he believed Tim Sherwood, who had captained Blackburn to the Premier League, was deemed a better fit.

Zidane would go on to guide Bordeaux to a UEFA Cup Final before joining the likes of Juventus and Real Madrid, where he would become a legend of the game.