The Premier League That Almost Was: Missed Transfers and What-ifs
The Premier League’s history is written by the players who came, conquered and left their marks all over it. But there’s a parallel universe, just out of reach, where some of the game’s greatest names chose different doors, boarded different planes, or waited for a different fax.
What follows is that other league. The Premier League that almost was.
Keane, Zidane and the Blackburn that never happened
Before Roy Keane became the snarling heartbeat of Manchester United’s dominance, he’d already shaken hands on a deal that would have changed everything.
Blackburn Rovers had him. Or thought they did.
In 1993, Keane agreed terms with Kenny Dalglish and gave his word he would join Rovers from Nottingham Forest. The contract was, in his words, “basically agreed”. He went back to Ireland, job done. Then the phone rang. It was Manchester United.
Keane admits his “mistake” was saying he would sign for United after already committing to Blackburn. History knows the rest: seven Premier League titles, four as captain, and a legacy built at Old Trafford instead of Ewood Park.
Blackburn’s sliding-door moments didn’t end there.
Fresh from winning the 1994/95 Premier League, Dalglish wanted to strengthen his champions with a young French midfielder from Bordeaux. Zinedine Zidane, alongside team-mate Christophe Dugarry, even visited Blackburn’s training ground.
Tim Sherwood remembers them walking around, talking with owner Jack Walker. The deal was on the table. Then Walker shut it down with the now-infamous logic: why sign Zidane when you already have Tim Sherwood?
Three years later, Zidane had a World Cup and a Ballon d’Or. Blackburn had a story they still wince at.
Shearer’s choice and West Ham’s missed Ballon d’Or
Alan Shearer, the Premier League’s record scorer with 260 goals, also had a fork in the road.
In 1996, he sat down with Sir Alex Ferguson and Kevin Keegan on the same day. Manchester United or Newcastle United. Trophies or home. He was, by his own admission, “90 per cent” sure he’d join United from Blackburn.
Then Keegan called again. A day or two later, Shearer decided. He would go home. Newcastle got 148 of those 260 Premier League goals. United got a rival, not a finisher.
Down in London, another future Ballon d’Or winner slipped through English fingers.
In 1999, a 17-year-old Andriy Shevchenko turned out for West Ham in a trial game against Barnet reserves and scored twice. Harry Redknapp liked what he saw. So did Frank Lampard Snr. But the price – around £1 million – felt too steep for a teenager.
West Ham walked away. Shevchenko walked towards a career that would bring him the 2004 Ballon d’Or and a place among Europe’s elite forwards. The Hammers were left with the memory of a bargain they thought was too expensive.
Arsenal’s almost-galácticos: Zlatan, Yaya and Ronaldo
Few clubs have flirted with greatness quite like Arsenal.
In 2000, a 17-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived in London from Malmo, ready to talk. He posed in an Arsenal No 9 shirt with his name on the back. The image screamed “done deal”.
But Arsene Wenger wanted a trial first. Zlatan refused to audition. No contract, no Arsenal. Sixteen years later he would finally reach the Premier League, but via Manchester United, not north London.
Three years on, another future powerhouse wore an Arsenal shirt without ever signing for the club.
Yaya Toure, then 20 and playing for Beveren, took part in a pre-season friendly against Barnet in 2003. Wenger wanted him. The club had an agreement. But the work permit dragged on, and Toure chose Metalurh Donetsk instead, where no passport complications stood in his way.
Arsenal missed out on a midfielder who would later dominate the Premier League with Manchester City, winning three titles between 2010 and 2018.
And then there was the one that still stings Wenger the most.
In 2003, a teenage Cristiano Ronaldo and his mother sat down to lunch at Arsenal’s training ground. Wenger showed him around, gave him a shirt with his name on the back, laid out the vision. The talks were close.
The sticking point? The transfer fee. Manchester United moved decisively, signed him from Sporting Lisbon, and watched him grow into a three-time Premier League winner and five-time Ballon d’Or winner. Wenger was left with a shirt and a regret that never fades.
Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and the near-misses of Old Trafford and Bolton
Manchester United thought they had Ronaldinho.
In 2003, as the Brazilian playmaker prepared to leave Paris Saint-Germain, Old Trafford looked like his next stage. Ferguson said United were “very close”. It felt inevitable.
Then Sandro Rosell made his move. He told Ronaldinho that if he became Barcelona president, would the Brazilian join? Ronaldinho agreed. Within 48 hours, United’s dream evaporated and Barcelona’s new era began.
Ronaldinho went on to win the Ballon d’Or in 2005 and the Champions League in 2006, his genius lighting up the Camp Nou instead of the Stretford End.
If that felt like a fantasy, Bolton Wanderers came even closer to a surreal coup.
In 2004, two years after lifting the World Cup with Brazil, Rivaldo was on the brink of signing for Sam Allardyce’s Bolton. Chairman Phil Gartside even carried a fax in his pocket confirming Rivaldo wanted the move and had accepted the financial terms.
Rivaldo himself spoke of the “challenge” of trying to get Bolton into Europe for the first time in their history. It was all there, in writing and in ambition. But the deal never reached the signature stage. Rivaldo joined Olympiacos instead and the Premier League never saw him in its colours.
Gerrard, Mourinho and the transfer request that shook Liverpool
In 2005, Steven Gerrard stood at the centre of a storm of his own making.
He had just dragged Liverpool to Champions League glory in Istanbul. Jose Mourinho, building a juggernaut at Chelsea, wanted him desperately. He pictured a midfield of Claude Makelele, Gerrard and Frank Lampard. He pushed hard.
Gerrard even handed in a transfer request. He admits Mourinho “turned my head” and that he would have loved to play for him. The move felt real, not just rumour.
Then came the talks at home, the pull of Anfield, the weight of a childhood club. Gerrard reversed course, signed a new four-year deal and stayed another decade. Mourinho’s dream midfield never existed. Liverpool kept their captain.
Ramsey’s choice and Blackburn’s volcano
Three years later, another teenager stood at a crossroads.
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. It looked done.
But Arsenal and Wenger moved smartly. During Euro 2008, they flew Ramsey out to meet Wenger, who took time out from punditry to sell him the project face to face over lunch. Ramsey felt wanted. He chose Arsenal.
Eleven years in north London, three FA Cups, and some of the most memorable goals in recent Wembley history followed. United were left with a press release that aged badly.
Blackburn’s misfortune, by contrast, came from the sky.
In 2010, they had a proposal in place to sign Robert Lewandowski from Lech Poznan. Talks had gone well. The player was due to fly to England, see the club, and likely complete the deal.
Then Eyjafjallajokull erupted in Iceland. Flights across Europe were grounded by the ash cloud. Lewandowski never made it to Blackburn. Without that visit, he says, the club never became his first choice. He joined Borussia Dortmund instead, then Bayern Munich, then Barcelona, scoring his way into Champions League history.
Blackburn were left staring at the sky, wondering what might have been.
Mbappé’s private jets and the Premier League that never got him
Before Kylian Mbappé became a World Cup winner and a global superstar, two Premier League giants tried to lure him across the Channel.
In 2016, with Mbappé still 17 and yet to sign a professional contract with Monaco, Wenger boarded a plane to the south of France. He went to the family home, sat with Mbappé and his parents, and tried to convince them that Arsenal was the right next step.
A year later, Liverpool had their turn. Jurgen Klopp met Mbappé 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.
It wasn’t enough. Mbappé chose Paris Saint-Germain, where he stayed six years, winning the World Cup with France and becoming one of the game’s defining forwards before moving to Real Madrid. The Premier League never got him, despite two of its most influential modern managers going all-in.
Haaland, Bellingham and Manchester United’s modern regrets
Manchester City’s dominance has been powered by Erling Haaland’s goals. It could have been very different.
In December 2019, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, then Manchester United manager, flew to Austria to meet Haaland at Red Bull Salzburg. They knew each other well from Molde. United pushed. Borussia Dortmund won.
Solskjaer later revealed he had actually urged United to sign Haaland the previous summer, before the goals in Salzburg turned him into a continental obsession. The club chose not to move then. By the time they did, everyone else was at the table.
Haaland crossed Manchester in 2022, but in the colours of City. Two Premier League titles and three Golden Boots later, United’s hesitation looks even more costly.
They felt the same sting with Jude Bellingham.
In 2020, as a 17-year-old Bellingham weighed up his next step after Birmingham City, United rolled out the red carpet. He visited Carrington with his family. Solskjaer was there. So were Sir Alex Ferguson, Bryan Robson and Eric Cantona.
They all spoke. They all sold the club. Those in the room thought they had him. Robson admits they left the meeting believing Bellingham would sign.
He didn’t. He chose Borussia Dortmund, then Real Madrid in 2023, where he has already begun to shape another era at the Bernabéu.
Some of these deals collapsed over money. Some over passports. One over a volcano. Others were lost in the space between ambition and timing.
The Premier League has never been short of stars. But look at this roll call – Zidane, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Mbappé, Haaland, Bellingham – and it’s impossible not to wonder:
How much greater could its story have been if even a handful of these “almosts” had actually walked through the door?
