1- Republic of Ireland midfielder Roy Keane nearly joined Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 1993 following Nottingham Forest’s relegation. However, he joined Manchester United once he knew they were interested.
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Photo From: Soccer International, September 1993 (Roy Keane upon joining Manchester United) |
2- Gianluca Vialli joined Juventus in 1992, however he could have joined them sooner in two previous occasions.
In the summer of 1984, Cremeonse President Domenico Luzzara had offered him to Juventus for 3 million Lira, but at the time Juventus’ Giampiero Boniperti still had doubts in his ability. Therefore, Vialli joined Sampdoria.
In 1987, Juventus came calling with an offer of 10 Million Lira that was refused.
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Photo From: Calcio 2000, Issue 24, November 1999 (Gianluca Vialli as a Cremonese player deciding his future in 1984 with Juventus and Sampdoria jerseys above him, he ended up playing for both in his career) |
3- In March 1994, AC Milan’s out of favor French striker Jean-Pierre Papin had an offer to join Tottenham Hotspur.
He refused preferring to wait until the end of the season and then joined Bayern Munich.
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Photo From: Onze-Mondial, January 1993 (Jean-Pierre Papin with AC Milan, 1992/93) |
4-In the summer of 1998, Following the World Cup, Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson attempted to sign Patrick Kluivert.
However, Kluivert chose to rejoin his former coach Louis Van Gaal at Barcelona instead.
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Photo From: World Soccer, May 2000 (Barcelona’s Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert) |
5-Denmark’s Michael Laudrup nearly joined Liverpool in the summer of 1983. Apparently all was signed for a three year contract. However, after some refelction Liverpool came back and offered the same terms for a four year contract. Laudrup refused and instead joined Juventus, who loaned him to Lazio for a couple of seasons.
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Photo From: Mondial, July 1986 (Denmark’s Michael Laudrup, to the left are Scotland’s Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeisch, June 4, 1986, World Cup, Denmark 1-Scotland 0) |
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