The Transfers That Never Happened: What Became Of Football’s Almost-Signings

Every transfer window tells two stories. The one about who arrived, and the one about who got away. Some of the most fascinating chapters in football history aren't about deals that happened, they're about the ones that fell apart at the last minute, the ones where a club blinked, or a player simply changed his mind.

We've pulled together some of the most jaw-dropping near-misses in the game, and they raise a question every fan has asked at some point: what if?

The One That Started It All: Zidane to Blackburn

Let's get the most painful one out of the way first. Blackburn Rovers, Premier League champions in 1995, were offered the chance to sign Zinedine Zidane from Bordeaux. Owner Jack Walker famously knocked it back with the line: 'Why do we need Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?'

It's one of the great quotes in football history. Sherwood was a decent midfielder, no question. But Zidane went on to win the World Cup, the European Championship, two Serie A titles, La Liga and the Champions League. He became arguably the greatest player of his generation.

Blackburn, meanwhile, have spent the vast majority of the years since rattling around the Championship. The contrast doesn't need spelling out.

Kaka, City's Big Swing, and the Tattoo That Never Should Have Happened

In January 2009, Manchester City were freshly loaded and going after the biggest names on the planet. Their bid for Kaka was reported at £108m, which would have been more than double the world record transfer fee at the time.

One City fan was so confident the deal was done that he allegedly got Kaka's name tattooed on his chest. Kaka turned them down.

He joined Real Madrid for £56m six months later, won La Liga, and had a career that most footballers could only dream about. The fan with the tattoo presumably moved on. Eventually.

The Fulham Decision That Defies All Logic

This one genuinely hurts to read. In January 2014, Fulham were in trouble at the bottom of the Premier League table and had £12m to spend. Real Sociedad offered them Antoine Griezmann for exactly that figure.

Fulham passed and spent the money on Kostas Mitroglou from Olympiakos instead. Mitroglou played three Premier League games, scored nothing, and Fulham went down. Griezmann stayed in Spain, won the World Cup with France in 2018, and spent the best part of a decade as one of Europe's elite forwards.

In Premier League terms, that decision stands as one of the worst pieces of transfer business anyone has ever done.

Mbappe, Klopp, and a Private Jet That Wasn't Enough

Jurgen Klopp pulled out all the stops in 2017 to sign a teenage Kylian Mbappe from Monaco. Liverpool laid on a private jet and catered for his whole family. Mbappe admitted his mum loved Liverpool. It looked like it might actually happen.

It didn't. Mbappe joined PSG and became the most expensive player in history. He went on to break the World Cup scoring record and joined Real Madrid in 2024.

Liverpool, for what it's worth, went on to win the Champions League and the Premier League under Klopp without him. So it worked out. But there's still a version of history where Mbappe runs out at Anfield every other week, and that's a version worth thinking about.

Gerrard, Mourinho, and the Transfer Request That Wasn't

Steven Gerrard handed in a transfer request in the summer of 2005, and Jose Mourinho's Chelsea were ready to pay £32m to bring him to Stamford Bridge. Gerrard eventually stayed, citing family reasons, and went on to make over 700 appearances for Liverpool.

Mourinho later called it one of his biggest disappointments in the transfer market. We believe him. A midfield built around Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele would have been one of the great Premier League units.

Gerrard staying was arguably the right call for him personally. But the what-if remains one of the most debated in Premier League history.

Our Take

Transfer windows are full of noise, and most of the links come to nothing. The Orban-to-Spurs story is the modern version of this. A player who looked unstoppable for a period, linked with a big club, the deal collapsed over a relatively modest fee, and his career plateaued. It happens more than anyone wants to admit.

The difference between a career-defining move and a quiet loan spell at a newly promoted club can come down to timing, fee negotiations, or even just the mood of the player on a particular afternoon. Football is that fragile.

The Zidane one still stings the most though. Tim Sherwood over Zinedine Zidane. Some decisions are too big to ever fully forgive.