10 Biggest Transfers That Almost Happened but Didn't

Let's imagine for a moment that Diego Maradona signed for Sheffield United in 1978. Hard to believe, isn't it?

Just like scores of other deals that could have changed the course of a player's career and a football club's fortunes, El Diego's proposed switch to Bramall Lane has become the stuff of folklore.

But which other players failed to make some of the biggest moves of all time? 

From Alfredo Di Stefano to Zinedine Zidane, over the following slides we look at 10 cases of the most unbelievable transfer deals-that-never-were.

The players are ranked from the least to most shocking, taking into account how big these players went on to become and the impact they may have had on the teams that let them slip through their grasp.

Agree with our rankings? Which non-deal surprised you the most? Let us know below.

Rivaldo to Bolton Wanderers

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

We begin our slideshow in the early noughties when Bolton Wanderers were enjoying a period of relative success.

Sam Allardyce managed to keep the club in the top flight, he brought players such as JayJay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff into the side and the Trotters even competed in the UEFA Cup in 2005/06.

And in 2004, Bolton almost signed World Cup winner Rivaldo. As the Guardian reported at the time:

"

Rivaldo is 'very close' to joining Bolton, according to his English representative Peter Harrison.

The World Cup winner is back in Spain, currently mulling over the club's offer, but Harrison is quietly confident he will get the go-ahead from the personal agent of the former AC Milan and Barcelona playmaker.

'With a transfer of this size you can never be 100% sure but Sam's made his offer and things are going very well,' Harrison told the Bolton Evening News. 'There's nothing untoward about the delay. Rivaldo just wanted time to think about it.

'I know for sure that Sam made a good impression on him and so did Phil Gartside. Everything's looking good.'

"

Rivaldo, who was named European and world footballer of the year in 1999 said, via BBC Sport: "I want the challenge of trying to get Bolton into Europe for the first time in their history. It is an exciting time."

But the exciting times never came as, just weeks later, Allardyce told the club's official website, via the Guardian: "I can categorically confirm that Rivaldo will not be joining us."

Steven Gerrard to Chelsea

Ian Walton/Getty Images

Steven Gerrard, Kop hero, Scouser, Mr Liverpool.

Looking back, it's hard to imagine that he came so close to joining Chelsea. But come close he did. 

During the 2004 European Championships, it looked like the Reds captain was on the brink of leaving Anfield until reports surfaced that suggested a hate campaign directed towards his family would keep him at the club, as seen in the Daily Mail.

Gerrard decided to stay and play for new manager Rafael Benitez, with Liverpool releasing a statement on the club's official website (via the Daily Mail):

"

Steven Gerrard has today quashed all speculation linking him with a move away from Anfield by pledging his future to Liverpool Football Club.

The news will come as a huge relief to Liverpudlians everywhere who feared the club was set to lose the services of their highly influential captain.

"

The decision paid off as, under Benitez, Liverpool won the Champions League in their famous final against AC Milan in Istanbul.

However, the following summer, it looked like Chelsea were proving too hard to resist after Liverpool failed to offer their captain a new contract. Gerrard even told Sky Sports News, via the Daily Mail, that he was ready to leave the club: 

"

The last six weeks have been the toughest of my life and the decision I have come to has been the hardest decision I have ever had to make.

I fully intended to sign a new contract after the Champions League Final but the events of the past five or six weeks have changed all that.

"

Weeks later, Gerrard had a change of heart and penned a new deal with Liverpool, as seen on the BBC Sport website.

Radamel Falcao to Aston Villa

Michael Regan/Getty Images

It was 2008 and former Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill was on the lookout for a new striker.

According to the Mirror, Radamel Falcao was being tipped for a move to Villa Park. The Colombian was valued at just £5 million, but a move failed to materialise.

In 2009, as Mat Kendrick reported in the Birmingham Mail, both Radamel Falcao and Edinson Cavani had issued "come and get me pleas," in a bid to force through moves from their respective clubs River Plate and Palermo, but the asking price was considered too high at the time:

"

Cavani, 22, is currently valued at £12.8 million by Palermo but the Italians will probably have to accept far less.

Falcao plays for Juan Pablo Angel’s former club in Argentina and his current asking price is slightly over £6.4 million, although a smaller sum is likely to nab him.

"

Last summer, Falcao and Cavani were two of the most sought-after strikers in Europe. The pair signed for Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain for £50 millon and £55 million, respectively.

Robert Lewandowski to Blackburn Rovers

Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images

In-demand striker Robert Lewandowski could have joined Blackburn Rovers in 2010.

At the time, a 21-year-old Lewandowski was playing for Lech Poznan and was aware of interest from the Lancashire club.

As reported on ESPNfc.com, a bid of around £4 million was thought to be enough to sign the promising Poland international. 

However, the moved was stymied by a volcanic ash cloud in Iceland, which grounded all flights in and out of the UK.

"He got the invitation [from Blackburn], but due to the cancellation of the flights he could not go, and it makes no sense to drive," said agent Cezary Kucharski in the Daily Mail.

Lewandowski signed for Borussia Dortmund instead, where he has since scored 88 goals in 158 games, won two Bundesliga titles and made it to the 2012/13 Champions League final.

Cristiano Ronaldo to Arsenal

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

In 2003, Cristiano Ronaldo came within a whisker of signing for Arsenal.

The then-18-year-old trained with the Gunners and came so close to joining Arsene Wenger's side that he was even given his own No. 9 shirt.

Wenger admitted in 2008 that the move fell through because a price could not be agreed with Ronaldo's club, Sporting Lisbon. The manager was quoted on Arsenal.com, as saying:

"

I had Ronald at the training ground. I showed him around and I gave him a shirt. It had got his name on the back.

But in the end it was a question of the amount of transfer fee between the two clubs. Of course, he has proved to be a bargain [at £12.25 million]. But the price that we discussed was in fact much lower, it was divided by three. 

"

Earlier this year, in an interview with ITV4, via the Mirror's John Cross, Wenger elaborated on how the Portuguese slipped through the net:

"

What happened was that Carlos Queiroz went to Manchester United and they snapped him away from us because he knew him from Sporting.

That's what life is about. You give your best but sometimes you might find that people are stronger than you. That can happen as well.

"

How different things could have been for Ronaldo, who went on to win a haul of silverware with Manchester United, including three Premier League titles and the Champions League.

The Portuguese was sold on to Real Madrid in 2009 for £80 million, as seen in the Guardian. 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Arsenal

Jasper Juinen/Getty Images

It's a story that shares many similarities with the Cristiano Ronaldo one. Aged just 16, Zlatan Ibrahimovic went to Arsenal to see the training facilities, train with the first team and was given a shirt with his name on the back.

But Arsene Wenger made one false move—he asked the young Swede to go through a trial. However, as the man himself told The Sun, via the Daily Mail: "Zlatan doesn't do auditions."

"

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. 

It was a fantastic moment for me. Arsenal had a great team then and here was an Arsenal shirt made just for me.

So then I waited for him to convince me that I should join Arsenal. But he didn't even try.

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.'

I thought 'You either know me or you don't and if you don't know me you can't really want me.'

"

In a 2012 interview with Matt Fortune in the Daily Mail, Wenger insisted that he had no regrets:

"

The story is true I wanted to see him. I did not know him, you cannot sign players you have not seen at all because it is not serious.

He was 16. I asked him to have a little training session with the first team and he didn't want to do it.

Do I regret it? No. I will continue to do that unless our scouts have seen the player and says, 'look he is absolutely 100 per cent'. I trust them.

"

Paul Gascoigne to Manchester United

Simon Bruty/Getty Images

Sir Alex Ferguson maintains that his biggest regret was not signing Paul Gascoigne in 1988.

Gazza, who was 21 at the time, was and still is one of the most naturally gifted players of his generation.

His performances for Newcastle United had been winning him many plaudits and saw him scoop the PFA Player of the Year award for the 1987/88 season.

Tottenham Hotspur and Ferguson's Manchester United were both interested in the player, who looked like he was poised to make a move to Old Trafford. Until, that is, Spurs swung the deal when they bought Gazza's parents a house.

Ferguson told the Daily Mail:

"

We spoke to him the night before I went on holiday. He says 'Go and enjoy yourself Mr Ferguson, I'll be signing for Manchester United'. 

'So I went on my holidays but Martin Edwards (then chairman) rang and said 'I've got some bad news - he signed for Tottenham. They bought a house for his mother and father in the north east and that swung it'. 

'I think it was a bad mistake, and Paul admits it.

"

Alfredo Di Stefano to Barcelona

Alfredo Di Stefano: His is a name that has become as synonymous with Real Madrid as galacticos or the Bernabeu. 

But things could have been very different for the player who was twice voted European Footballer of the Year during his 11 years at the club.

He could (whisper it) have been a Barcelona player all along.

As detailed on fcbarcelona.com, Barca signed Di Stefano in 1953. The Catalan club had to reach an agreement with River Plate, the club that owned the player's rights. At the same time, Real Madrid reached a deal with Millionarios, who the young striker actually played for.

Cue confusion and a decision, backed by the Franco regime, that Di Stefano would play alternate seasons for each club.

Imagine if Cristiano Ronaldo played alternate seasons for Barcelona and Real Madrid? All hell would break loose.

Barcelona ended up relinquishing the deal and Di Stefano played solely for Madrid, defining an era of great success for the Spanish side, in which they won five back-to-back European Cups and eight league titles.

Backroom politics, tug-of-war over players, confusing contracts—it sounds just like modern-day football.

Zinedine Zidane to Blackburn Rovers

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Back in the days when Blackburn Rovers topped the Premier League and Venky's was a word not yet uttered at Ewood Park, the football landscape looked bright in Lancashire.

Fresh from winning the 1994/95 Premiership trophy, Rovers were on the lookout for new talent.

As the story goes, a Frenchman by the name of Zinedine Zidane had caught the eye of Ray Harford and his assistant coach Derek Fazackerley, who urged Rovers to bid for the 23-year-old.

But club chairman Jack Walker uttered the now infamous words, as seen on talkSPORT: "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we've got Tim Sherwood?"

Fazackerly was later quoted in the Lancashire Telegraph, as saying:

"

I can remember going out to watch Zinedine Zidane and recommending him to come here.

He might not have wanted to come, but when you’re the champions that's the time to cement it and go and get the best players you can.

I don't think Blackburn did that. They bought one or two players who found it difficult to get into the side that won the championship.

I just felt the club lost a little bit of direction at that point. You just looked at Zidane and thought, 'What a good player he is.' You just think what might have been.

"

Things worked out well for Zidane, who went on to sign for Juventus for £3 million before putting pen to paper for Real Madrid in 2001 for more than £48 million.

Blackburn, on the other hand...

Diego Maradona to Sheffield United

Getty Images/Getty Images

As far as failed transfers go, it doesn't get more shocking than this. In 1978 Sheffield United manager Harry Haslam went on a scouting trip to Argentina.

Blades fans, you may want to stop reading now.

United were in the Second Division at the time, in need of fresh blood, and when Haslam saw a then-17-year-old Diego Maradona in action, he immediately started preparing a £200,000 bid to bring him to Yorkshire.

However, as reported by Sean Ingle and Scott Murray in the Guardian, the United board were reluctant to pay the fee for the promising young Argentine.

Instead, they opted to shell out £160,000 on Maradona's countryman, Alex Sabella, who is current manager of the national team.

Guardian columnist Rob Bagchi said of Sabella in 2010: 

"

The elegant midfielder turned Copa Libertadores-winning manager was arguably the Blades' most skilful ever player and Yorkshire football fans around when he signed for the club for £160,000 in 1978 will have fond memories of the repertoire of bewitching juggling tricks he unveiled.

"

Sadly, Sabella's arrival could not prevent United's slip into the Third Division in the 1978/79 season and he was later sold to Leeds United for £400,000.

You have to wonder what might have been had Bramall Lane played host to one of the best footballers of all time.