15 Premier League Transfers That Never Happened

Which Premier League club rejected Zinedine Zidane?

Which London club could have signed a then unknown Ukrainian teenager called Andriy Shevchenko?

Liverpool had the chance to sign a future FIFA World Player of the Year but didn't. Who was that player?

This article will list 15 Premier League transfers that never happened.

Lyn were sitting on a gold mine with John Obi Mikel. 

Having secured a transfer to Manchester United, John Obi Mikel got cold feet, and Chelsea took advantage. 

Chelsea crossed the ethical line when they persuaded Mikel to argue that he was forced into signing for Manchester United. 

Clearly Mikel wanted to join Manchester United because he was wearing their shirt. 

In retrospect, the worse thing Mikel did was join Chelsea, because José Mourinho forced the creative midfielder to play as a holding midfielder. 

Blackburn Rovers had successfully negotiated the signing of Roy Keane from Nottingham Forest—until Sir Alex Ferguson stepped in. 

Here is the conversation between Ferguson and Keane:

Ferguson: Roy, it's Alex Ferguson here. Have you signed any forms?

Keane: No, but I shook hands on the deal and I'm due to sign the forms tomorrow.

Ferguson: Why don't you come to Manchester and have a chat with me before you do anything?

Like John Obi Mikel, Keane got cold feet, but at least he was man enough to ring up Kenny Dalglish, who was managing Rovers at the time. 

Allegedly Dalglish said this to Keane:

Nobody does this to me, nobody does this to Kenny Dalglish. You're a wee b______d and you won't get away with this. Blackburn Rovers will sue you for every penny you've got.

In retrospect, Luiz Felipe Scolari never really recovered after Chelsea decided that Robinho was too expensive.

Poor Robinho was so confused that he told reporters he was a Chelsea player even though Manchester City had just signed him. 

Here is Arsène Wenger reminiscing about a young Yaya Touré on trial at Arsenal:

Yaya Touré played for us in a pre-season game as a second striker and he was completely average on the day.

Nonetheless, Wenger recognised Yaya's talents and wanted to sign him. 

But, Yaya wanted to play as soon as possible, so he left for Metalurh Donetsk.

Six years after that "average" trial game, Yaya was a UEFA Champions League winner with Barcelona. 

Sergio Agüero had already began dreaming of a move to Chelsea:

Chelsea are a great club. They have become one of the most feared in Europe over recent years. London would be a really amazing city to live in as well—myself and my wife could be really happy there.

Supposedly Chelsea deemed Agüero's wage demands disproportionate to his playing ability, yet they thought £50 million for Fernando Torres was value for their money. 

To add insult to injury, Manchester City signed Agüero for £35 million, a bargain compared to what Chelsea paid for Torres. 

After scoring 21 goals for Southampton as a 22-year-old, Alan Shearer was England's hottest property. 

According to Shearer, he felt slighted by Manchester United:

There was interest from Manchester United, but I was told I had to wait three or four weeks for them to get the money together. I felt if they really wanted me then they would come and get me immediately.

So, he joined Jack Walker's revolution at Blackburn Rovers. 

Several years later, he had the chance to join Manchester United, but decided to join his boyhood club Newcastle United. 

Having won the UEFA Champions League, Steven Gerrard wanted out of Anfield:

Steven has told us he will not accept our offer of an improved and extended contract because he wants to leave.

Chelsea wanted to sign Gerrard because José Mourinho identified the Liverpool midfielder as potentially the missing piece to a UEFA Champions League triumph. 

Then again, considering how much the combination of Frank Lampard and Gerrard didn't work out for England, perhaps it was best for both clubs that Gerrard stayed loyal to Liverpool. 

I will never understand why A.C. Milan turned down Manchester City's £100 million bid for Kaká, only to sell the Brazilian a few months later to Real Madrid for £56 million. 

Either it was the death threats or it was a cunning ploy by Wayne Rooney and his agent Paul Stretford to hold Manchester United to a kings ransom. 

Maybe a combination of both. 

During the League Managers’ Association, Harry Redknapp shocked the audience when he said this:

I was at West Ham and Frank Lampard Snr and I were approached by these two villains who said they were doing some business in the Ukraine, and we were so scared of them we agreed to have a look at a couple of these kids. 

One of them we played against Barnet Reserves and he scored the winner.

They said they wanted a million quid for him, and Frank said it was too much—well I’m blaming Frank—and we let him go.

His name was Andriy Shevchenko.

Sir Alex Ferguson was impressed with a then-17-year-old Gareth Bale but Southampton was unimpressed with Manchester United's bid. 

Years later, Bale has established himself as one of the most lethal footballers on the planet. 

Perhaps Bale's success has something to do with Ferguson paying a premium to secure Phil Jones. 

My jaw dropped when Pepe Reina revealed that Arsène Wenger had submitted a £20 million bid for the Spaniard:

Arsenal had made their determination to sign me clear by offering £20m, a phenomenal amount for a goalkeeper.

When Liverpool received the bid, they rejected it. This was not because I had been told that I was too good a keeper to leave.

I was told that my continued presence was crucial to the sale of the club. I was simply a bargaining chip in the sales process.

Sir Alex Ferguson was spot on when he believed Ronaldinho would be so influential:

I felt that if we had got Ronaldinho, we would have had a big chance in Europe. Without him, we can't really do anything different from what we tried last year.

Barcelona only submitted a £21 million bid and it was bizarre why Peter Kenyon didn't bid higher than Barcelona.

Especially with £25 million in the bank from the David Beckham transfer to Real Madrid. 

Three years after Barcelona won a bidding war for Ronaldinho, the Brazilian had helped the club to a UEFA Champions League triumph, and was a two-time FIFA World Player of the Year. 

When you read what Gérard Houllier says about discovering Cristiano Ronaldo, you can't help but feel sorry for the Frenchman:

I saw him (Ronaldo) in the Toulon U21 tournament and we went for him, but we had a wage scale and we weren't paying the sort of salary he wanted. 

Then Manchester United played a friendly against Sporting Lisbon and all their boys said to Sir Alex Ferguson, 'You have to sign him.'

When Kenny Dalglish approached Jack Walker to sign Zinedine Zidane from Bordeaux, Jack Walker reportedly said:

Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?

When asked about Walker's infamous quote, Sherwood was a good sport:

He was a great judge of a player, that Jack Walker. No, come on, you shouldn't even put me and Zidane in the same sentence.

Please watch 25 Most Embarrassing Goals Ever Allowed. 

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