“I was supposed to have arrived at another club. “I wasn’t supposed to come to Chelsea, man,” revealed the midfielder in an interview with Brazilian pundit Ale Oliveira late last year. But the Italy international could have so easily been playing for Chelsea’s opponents in the final las May, having come slo close to joining Man City. If it doesn’t make sense, we are perfectly comfortable walking away.” Jorginho: Wanted by Man City, signed by Chelsea (2018)Ĭhelsea fans couldn’t have asked for more from Jorginho since he joined the club, having helped the Premier League side win the Champions League in 2021. “The reality is that the economics simply didn’t work for us any more. “We looked at it again in January, but the situation had changed for us compared to how we looked at it in the summer,” said Al Mubarak in an interview with the Manchester Evening News. According to the club president at the time, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, City went back in for Sanchez that January but were scared off by the player’s huge salary demands. Six months before Sanchez eventually made the move to Old Trafford, Man City manager Pep Guardiola was desperate to sign the player but a deal couldn’t be arranged in time. Very few Manchester United fans will look back on Alexis Sanchez’s time at the club as anything but a complete waste of money and it may be even harder to stomach such a move in the knowledge that Manchester City almost made the same mistake before them. Alexis Sanchez: Wanted by Man City, signed by Man Utd (2018) Director of football Monchi even threatened to sue Barcelona and Bordeaux over the failed deal. Roma fans were actually waiting for Malcom to arrive at the airport in the Italian capital only to be left disappointed. The outlay on the Brazilian was in excess of €40m, which was their most expensive acquisition of the window, and it is safe to say that move didn’t work out for anyone apart from the selling club, Bordeaux.īarca will be cursing their luck as Malcom was actually destined to sign for Roma before deciding to change his mind at the last minute and move to Spain. In 2018 Barcelona undertook another spending spree, laying out over €146 million on new recruits, including Bordeaux winger Malcom. Malcom: Wanted by Roma, signed by Barcelona (2018) Wijnaldum’s move to PSG has proven a nightmare, leaving everyone involved doubtless wishing that he had instead gone to Barcelona. He would subsequently be attracted to the riches of PSG, who offered him a much, much bigger contract. One deal they thought that they had concluded was another for Georginio Wijnaldum, who had left Liverpool as a free agent. Georginio Wijnaldum: Wanted by Barcelona, signed by PSG (2021)īarcelona were shopping in the free transfer market in the summer of 2021 as they brought in Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia on Bosman deals. Man Utd wanted to sign Ronaldo not only for success on the pitch, naturally, but also to avoid the PR disaster of having one of their greatest ever players join rivals Man City. Manchester City initially appeared as the more likely destination, but upon hearing of his availability, Manchester United quickly pounced to bring him back to Old Trafford. The Portuguese superstar made clear his intention to leave Juventus, with a return to the Premier League on the cards. In the summer of 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo completed a sensational return to Manchester United. Cristiano Ronaldo: Wanted by Man City, signed by Man Utd (2021) So the €15m add-ons for Liverpool are pretty much guaranteed in terms of what these add-ons are for, they are relatively easy to meet," he said. "Apparently Tottenham's objectives were a lot more difficult to reach than Liverpool's. Liverpool would eventually gazump Spurs to a deal, though.Īccording to Journalist and Portuguese football expert Aaron Barton of Proxima Jornada, Tottenham's deal fell apart as Porto did not believe they would be able to guarantee add-ons that would bump up the player's price. Tottenham and Antonio Conte were desperate for attacking reinforcements in the 2022 January transfer window and were hoping to strike a deal for Porto superstars Luis Diaz. Here are 10 occasions when a transfer deal was hijacked.įOOTBALLTRANSFERS' MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS IN THE WORLD Luis Diaz: Wanted by Tottenham, signed by Liverpool (2022) While one club attempts to get a deal over the line, another club could be waiting in the wings to pounce and make an eleventh hour bid.
While all fans see are the rumours, the confirmation of the deals, the reported transfer fee and the reported wages, there are dozens of factors that need to be addressed for a deal to happen behind the scenes. Football transfers can be a very complicated business.