15 Premier League Transfers That Almost Happened

The Premier League’s history is written by the players who came… and just as powerfully by those who never did.

Across three decades, deals collapsed in boardrooms, on airport tarmacs, even in the shadow of a volcano. Careers changed. So did clubs. In some cases, the entire shape of English football might have looked different.

Here are 15 transfers that almost happened – and would have redrawn the Premier League map.

Keane and Zidane: Blackburn’s Sliding Doors

Before Roy Keane became the snarling heartbeat of Manchester United, he was Blackburn Rovers’ next midfield general. Or so everyone thought.

In 1993, Keane shook hands with Kenny Dalglish. The contract was “basically agreed”. He went back to Ireland, deal all but done. Then the phone rang. It was Manchester United. Keane had already said he would sign for Blackburn, but Old Trafford called with a better future. He chose United and never looked back, winning seven Premier League titles, four as captain, and defining an era.

Two years later, Dalglish and Blackburn stood at another crossroads. Fresh from winning the 1994/95 title, they looked at a young playmaker from Bordeaux: Zinedine Zidane.

Zidane and Christophe Dugarry even visited Blackburn’s training ground. Tim Sherwood remembers them talking to owner Jack Walker. The answer became infamous. Why sign Zidane, Walker asked, when they already had Tim Sherwood?

Blackburn walked away. Within three years, Zidane was a World Cup winner and Ballon d’Or holder. Rovers, meanwhile, drifted from the summit they had briefly scaled.

Shearer’s Choice: Newcastle or a Dynasty at Old Trafford?

In 1996, Alan Shearer sat down with Kevin Keegan and Sir Alex Ferguson on the same day. The Premier League’s greatest goalscorer stood between two futures.

Manchester United wanted him to spearhead an already dominant side. Shearer later admitted he was “90 per cent” sure he would join Ferguson. Newcastle, his boyhood club, tugged at the remaining 10 per cent.

Keegan called again. Shearer went home. The world-record £15 million fee took him to St James’ Park, where he scored 148 league goals and became a local deity. At Old Trafford, Ferguson built dynasties without him. The league’s all-time leading scorer never wore United red.

West Ham and the £1m Gamble They Wouldn’t Take

In 1999, a 17-year-old Andriy Shevchenko turned out for West Ham’s reserves against Barnet. He scored twice. Harry Redknapp liked what he saw. The price? Around £1 million.

Redknapp and assistant Frank Lampard Snr thought it was too much for a teenager. West Ham walked away.

Shevchenko went on to win the Ballon d’Or in 2004 and become one of Europe’s deadliest strikers. He did eventually reach the Premier League with Chelsea in 2006, but the bargain of the decade had slipped through West Ham’s fingers long before.

Arsenal’s Trial Culture: Zlatan, Yaya and Ronaldo

At the turn of the millennium, Arsenal were a magnet for young talent. They also had a habit that cost them some of the greatest players of all time.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived in London as a 17-year-old Malmo striker. He posed in an Arsenal No 9 shirt with his name on the back. Arsene Wenger liked him, but wanted a trial first.

Zlatan refused. “Zlatan doesn’t do auditions,” he would later say. Sixteen years on, he finally reached the Premier League – for Manchester United.

Yaya Toure did pull on an Arsenal shirt, playing in a 2003 pre-season friendly against Barnet while at Beveren. Wenger wanted to sign him, but the work permit dragged on. Toure grew impatient and joined Metalurh Donetsk, where he could move without passport issues.

Arsenal’s midfield future slipped away. Toure later returned to England as the driving force of Manchester City’s rise, winning three Premier League titles between 2010 and 2018.

The biggest near-miss of all, though, was Cristiano Ronaldo.

In 2003, Wenger hosted a 17-year-old Ronaldo and his mother at Arsenal’s training ground, gave him a shirt with his name on it and tried to close the deal from Sporting Lisbon. The move came down to money. Manchester United paid the fee Arsenal would not.

Ronaldo went to Old Trafford, won three Premier League titles and started a journey that would bring him five Ballons d’Or. Wenger called missing out on him his greatest regret.

Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and the Premier League’s Brazilian What-Ifs

In 2003, it looked like Ronaldinho was heading to Old Trafford. He wanted to leave Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester United moved early. Ferguson said they were “very close”.

The deal never landed. Barcelona, fronted by Sandro Rosell, swooped in. Ronaldinho chose Camp Nou and changed their history, winning the Ballon d’Or in 2005 and lifting the Champions League in 2006. United pivoted and soon built around Ronaldo instead, but the idea of Ronaldinho in the Premier League remains one of football’s great fantasies.

A year later, another Brazilian World Cup winner nearly turned up in a very different corner of England.

In 2004, Bolton Wanderers, under Sam Allardyce, tried to pull off the unthinkable: signing Rivaldo. The club’s chairman Phil Gartside held a fax confirming Rivaldo wanted to come and had accepted the financial terms. Rivaldo himself spoke of the “challenge” of taking Bolton into Europe for the first time.

The move, astonishing as it would have been, collapsed before pen met paper. Rivaldo went to Olympiacos instead. Bolton’s European adventures arrived without him, but the image of a Ballon d’Or winner in white at the Reebok remains one of the league’s most surreal almost-stories.

Gerrard, Mourinho and the Transfer Request That Shook Liverpool

Few sagas cut as deep as Steven Gerrard’s flirtation with Chelsea in 2005.

Fresh from leading Liverpool to that miraculous Champions League triumph in Istanbul, Gerrard was the heartbeat of his boyhood club. At Stamford Bridge, Jose Mourinho was assembling a machine and dreaming of a midfield trio: Claude Makelele, Gerrard and Frank Lampard.

Gerrard submitted a transfer request in July. Mourinho had turned his head. The move felt inevitable.

Then came the pull of home. After talks with his family, Gerrard reversed course, signed a new four-year deal and stayed at Liverpool for another decade. Chelsea went on to dominate domestically without him. Gerrard remained the symbol of a club trying to catch them.

Ramsey’s Detour: From Old Trafford Statement to Arsenal Midfield

In 2008, Manchester United announced on their website that they had agreed a fee with Cardiff City for Aaron Ramsey, calling him one of Wales’ brightest prospects.

Ten days later, he signed for Arsenal.

Wenger made the difference. While managing media duties at Euro 2008, he flew Ramsey out, found time for lunch and sold his vision. Ramsey felt wanted. Eleven years, three FA Cups and a stack of decisive Wembley goals later, Arsenal had their answer. United, who thought they had him, never did.

The Volcano That Blocked Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski’s path to greatness nearly ran through Ewood Park.

In 2010, Blackburn Rovers had a proposal in place with Lech Poznan. Talks with the player had gone well. Lewandowski was due to fly to England, see the stadium, feel the club, and likely sign.

Then Eyjafjallajokull erupted.

The Icelandic volcano grounded flights across Europe. Lewandowski never made the trip. He later admitted that if he had gone and seen Blackburn, it might have become his first choice.

Instead, he joined Borussia Dortmund, then Bayern Munich and Barcelona, becoming one of the most prolific forwards of his generation. Blackburn’s chance to host a 100-goal-a-club striker vanished in an ash cloud.

Mbappe: The Teenager Courted by Wenger and Klopp

Before Kylian Mbappe became a World Cup winner and global superstar, two Premier League giants tried to get in early.

In 2016, Wenger flew to the south of France to visit Mbappe and his family at home while the teenager was still at Monaco and yet to sign his first professional contract. Arsenal made their pitch face to face, the old-fashioned way.

A year later, Liverpool went just as hard. Jurgen Klopp met Mbappe and his family on a private jet. They flew in circles, talked, ate, and Liverpool “pulled out all the stops”, as Klopp later put it.

The charm offensives weren’t enough. Mbappe chose Paris Saint-Germain, where he spent six years, won the World Cup with France in 2018 and built his reputation before moving to Real Madrid. The Premier League watched from afar, knowing two of its most persuasive managers had still come up short.

Haaland and Bellingham: United’s Modern Near-Misses

Manchester United’s recent history is littered with transfer regrets. Two of the most painful wear sky blue and white today.

Erling Haaland, now a record-breaking striker at Manchester City with two Premier League titles and three Golden Boots, could easily have begun his English career at Old Trafford.

In 2019, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer flew to Austria to meet him at Red Bull Salzburg. The pair knew each other well from their time at Molde. United had been tipped off even earlier. Solskjaer revealed he had phoned the club the summer before he became manager, urging them to sign Haaland and insisting he would be “absolutely top class”.

The club waited. By the time they moved seriously, Haaland was exploding at Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund were ready. He chose Germany. City came later.

Jude Bellingham was another generational talent who walked through United’s doors but never stayed.

At 17, still at Birmingham City, he and his family visited Carrington. The club rolled out the royalty: Solskjaer, Sir Alex Ferguson, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona. They all spoke, they all sold the dream. Robson remembers leaving that meeting convinced Bellingham would sign.

He didn’t. Like Haaland, he chose Borussia Dortmund. From there, he joined Real Madrid in 2023 and has already become the centrepiece of their next great side.

Faxes, ash clouds, trial demands, transfer fees, family talks, last-minute calls. The Premier League’s present is built on these missed moments as much as the ones that went through.

How different would English football look if Keane had joined Blackburn, Zidane had arrived at Ewood Park, or Ronaldinho had danced at Old Trafford? We’ll never know – but the echoes of those almost-signings still shape the league we watch today.