The biggest Premier League transfers that almost happened

The Premier League has been home to some of football's greatest talents, but at one point there could have been even more iconic names.

Below we have selected 15 of the biggest Premier League transfers that almost happened and we want your vote for the deal you wish had gone through.

Roy Keane to Blackburn Rovers (1993)

Roy Keane is a Manchester United legend, winning seven Premier League titles with the Red Devils and four of them as captain.

The Irishman moved to Old Trafford from Nottingham Forest in 1993 – but only after he had already agreed to join a different north west club, Blackburn Rovers.

Speaking on The Overlap in 2023, Keane said: “I did shake hands (with then Blackburn manager Sir Kenny Dalglish) and I said, 'Listen, I’ll come'. I think the contract was basically agreed.

“I went back to Ireland and got a phone call from United. The mistake I made was saying I would sign. Obviously, I have no regrets about signing for United.”

Zinedine Zidane to Blackburn Rovers (1995)

After winning the Premier League in 1994/95, Dalglish wanted to bolster Blackburn’s squad ahead of their title defence with the signing of a young French midfielder – Zinedine Zidane.

Along with his Bordeaux teammate Christophe Dugarry, Zidane visited Blackburn’s training ground, only for club owner Jack Walker to veto the deal.

“We saw them at the training ground and they were speaking to Jack Walker about joining the club,” Tim Sherwood, who was then Blackburn’s captain, recalled to talkSPORT in 2022.

“But it never materialised. It’s embarrassing for me now because Jack Walker’s famous quote is, ‘Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?’.”

Three years later, Zidane won the FIFA World Cup and Ballon d’Or.

Alan Shearer to Manchester United (1996)

Alan Shearer is the Premier League’s all-time leading scorer with 260 goals.

He netted 148 of those for his boyhood club Newcastle United, who he famously joined from Blackburn for a then world record fee of £15-million in 1996.

It could, though, have been a very different story, as Shearer held talks with Sir Alex Ferguson about joining Man Utd, while also speaking to Newcastle United boss Kevin Keegan.

“I sat down with both Kevin Keegan and Sir Alex on the same day,” Shearer told BBC Sport in 2020.

“At one point I was going to go to Manchester United. I was 90% certain I was going to go there.

“But I got another call off Kevin a day or two later and I thought, ‘I’m going to go back to Newcastle’."

Andriy Shevchenko to West Ham (1999)

Andriy Shevchenko played in the Premier League for Chelsea from 2006 to 2009.

But the Ukrainian striker – who won the Ballon d’Or in 2004 – almost moved to London more than a decade earlier after having a trial with West Ham United.

“We fixed up a game with Barnet reserves and Shevchenko got two goals,” Harry Redknapp, who was then the Hammers boss, told Sky Sports in 2020.

“We liked him but he was like £1-million. I remember talking to Frank Lampard Snr (assistant manager) after and saying, ‘That is too much money’. He was only 17 at the time, so we didn’t take him.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Arsenal (2000)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a 17-year-old starting out with his hometown team Malmo when he travelled to London for transfer talks with Arsenal.

The Swedish striker looked set to sign for the Gunners, even posing for photos wearing a No 9 shirt with his name printed on the back.

However, Ibrahimovic ended up rejecting the chance to join Arsenal after the club’s then manager, Arsene Wenger, insisted he first had a trial.

“Arsene gave me the famous red and white jersey - the No 9 shirt with Ibrahimovic on it and I was so pleased I even posed for a picture wearing it,” Ibrahimovic said in 2012.

“But he never actually made me a serious offer. It was more, ‘I want to see how good you are, what kind of player you are. Have a trial'.

“I couldn't believe it. I was like, ‘No way, Zlatan doesn't do auditions’.”

Ibrahimovic ended up coming to the Premier League 16 years later when he signed for Man Utd.

Yaya Toure to Arsenal (2003)

Another player who pulled on an Arsenal shirt before he officially signed was Yaya Toure.

The Ivorian midfielder was a 20-year-old with Belgian club Beveren when he was offered a trial with the Gunners, playing in a pre-season friendly against Barnet in July 2003.

Arsenal boss Wenger was keen to sign Toure but the player grew impatient waiting for his work permit and joined Metalurh Donetsk in Ukraine instead.

“Yaya Toure had an agreement with us – and it's not because we did not want to sign him that he went to Ukraine,” said Wenger in 2014.

“It's just the fact that he preferred to go to Metalurh Donetsk. He could go there without any passport.”

Toure went on to win three Premier League titles with Manchester City, who he played for from 2010 to 2018.

Cristiano Ronaldo to Arsenal (2003)

Wenger has previously claimed the biggest regret of his time in charge of Arsenal was missing out on Cristiano Ronaldo.

In 2003, the then Gunners boss hosted a 17-year-old Ronaldo and his mother for lunch at the club’s training ground as he looked to sign the forward from Sporting Lisbon.

However, the Portuguese player ended up joining Arsenal’s rivals Man Utd that summer, winning three Premier League titles with the Red Devils, and going on to claim the Ballon d’Or five times.

“I had Ronaldo at the training ground, I showed him around and I gave him a shirt,” Wenger said in 2008. “It has got his name on the back.

“He was here with his mother and we were very close. But in the end it was a question of the amount of transfer fee to be paid.”

Ronaldinho to Man Utd (2003)

When Ronaldinho announced he wanted to leave Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the 2002/03 campaign, his next destination looked set to be Old Trafford.

“We are just about there but we don't know for sure,” said then Man Utd boss Ferguson. “We are very close.”

However, Man Utd were ultimately beaten to the 23-year-old Brazilian playmaker by Barcelona.

“It almost happened with United,” Ronaldinho said in 2018. “It was a matter of 48 hours but Sandro Rosell told me, ‘If I become Barca president, will you come?’ and I said yes.”

Ronaldinho won the Ballon d’Or in 2005 and helped Barcelona lift the UEFA Champions League a year later.

Rivaldo to Bolton Wanderers (2004)

Two years after winning the World Cup with Brazil, Rivaldo was on the brink of a sensational switch to Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers.

“I've got a fax in my pocket which arrived this morning saying he wants to come to us,” said then Bolton chairman Phil Gartside following a win at Everton in May 2004.

“We've offered him a deal which he's accepted financially and it's just a case of getting together with him to put pen to paper.”

Ballon d’Or winner Rivaldo, who was then 32 and a free agent, also said in an interview at the time: “I want the challenge of trying to get Bolton into Europe for the first time in their history. It is an exciting time.”

However, the deal failed to materialise, and Rivaldo ended up signing for Greek giants Olympiacos and never playing in the Premier League.

Steven Gerrard to Chelsea (2005)

Steven Gerrard had just led Liverpool to Champions League glory when he came close to leaving his boyhood club and joining one of their Premier League rivals.

Jose Mourinho was then the manager of Chelsea and he was desperate to sign the England midfielder.

“I was dreaming of (Claude) Makelele, Gerrard and (Frank) Lampard in midfield,” Mourinho recalled in 2015.

Mourinho’s pursuit of Gerrard looked set to be successful when the Liverpool captain handed in a transfer request in July 2005.

“I was thinking, ‘I’d love to play for Jose Mourinho’,” Gerrard later wrote in his autobiography. “Jose turned my head.”

But following talks with his family, Gerrard ultimately decided to stay loyal to Liverpool, signing a new four-year deal with the club, where he stayed for another 10 years.

Aaron Ramsey to Man Utd (2008)

Aaron Ramsey was so close to joining Man Utd that the club announced on their website that they had agreed a transfer fee with Cardiff City.

In the statement, the Red Devils described the 17-year-old Welsh midfielder as “one of his country’s brightest prospects in recent years”.

However, just 10 days after the article was published, Ramsey signed for Wenger’s Arsenal, going on to spend 11 years with the Gunners and winning the FA Cup three times.

“I felt like he (Wenger) really wanted me,” Ramsey said on Sky Sports in 2024.

“He was doing the Euros at the time and they flew me over there when he had a few hours off. We had lunch and it was everything about him and his vision and his plans.”

Robert Lewandowski to Blackburn Rovers (2010)

Robert Lewandowski is the third top goalscorer in Champions League history, one of only three players to have scored more than 100 times for three different clubs this century.

However, were it not for a volcano eruption in 2010, the prolific Polish striker might have plundered goals in the Premier League for Blackburn.

Rovers had a proposal in place to sign Lewandowski following successful talks with the player and his then club Lech Poznan.

Lewandowski was due to travel to England to seal the deal, only for all flights to be cancelled due to the ash cloud that spread across Europe due to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.

“I could not fly to Blackburn because of the volcano,” said Lewandowski in 2017. “Maybe if I went there and saw the club, the stadium and everything, it would have become my first choice”.

Lewandowski instead signed for Borussia Dortmund, before moving to Bayern Munich and then Barcelona.

Kylian Mbappe to Arsenal (2016) and Liverpool (2017)

Before Kylian Mbappe became the superstar we see today, two legendary Premier League managers did everything they could to sign him.

In 2016, when a 17-year-old Mbappe had not yet signed his first professional contract with Monaco, then Arsenal boss Wenger travelled to meet the French forward and his family.

“I took a plane to fly down to the south of France,” Wenger told the BBC. “I was at his home with his parents. I tried to convince him to come to Arsenal.”

A year later, Jurgen Klopp also tried to sign Mbappe for Liverpool, even holding talks with the players and his family on a private jet.

“Liverpool really pulled out all the stops,” Klopp told Magenta TV. “We just flew in circles, talked with the family, and had a delicious meal.”

However, Mbappe decided to join Paris Saint-Germain, where he stayed for six years – during which time he won the World Cup with France – before moving to Real Madrid.

Erling Haaland to Man Utd (2019)

Erling Haaland has won two Premier League titles and three Golden Boots with Man City.

But the superstar striker's Premier League career could easily have begun on the other side of Manchester.

In December 2019, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in charge of Man Utd and was keen to sign Haaland from Red Bull Salzburg.

Solskjaer reportedly flew to Austria for talks with his fellow Norwegian, who he managed for two years at Molde but he missed out on his signature to Borussia Dortmund.

Man Utd’s move for Haaland came 18 months after Solskjaer had previously recommended the Old Trafford club sign him.

“The summer before I came (in as manager), I rang the club and said, ‘You have to sign this boy, he is going to be absolutely top class’,” Solskjaer told Stick to Football in 2024.

“It was the club's decision to not go for him then. We didn't go for him until he started scoring for Salzburg, but then everyone was there.”

Jude Bellingham to Man Utd (2020)

Another generational talent that got away from Man Utd in recent times was Jude Bellingham.

When the England midfielder was still only 17 and looking at his next destination after Birmingham City, he was invited for talks at the club’s Carrington training ground with his family.

As well as Solskjaer, Man Utd’s former boss Ferguson, and club legends Bryan Robson and Eric Cantona were all on hand to talk to Bellingham and convince him to move to Old Trafford.

“We all spoke to him and we sold it as well as he could,” Solskjaer recalled to Stick to Football in 2024.

Robson also confirmed: “After that meeting we thought he was coming to us.”

Instead, Bellingham signed for Borussia Dortmund that summer, before moving on to Real Madrid in 2023.