#1 Zinedine Zidane to Newcastle United
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It’s hard to imagine a time when Zidane wasn’t one of the finest and silkiest midfielders around.
But while he was initially making his name in the French league with Bordeaux, he got the chance to move to Tyneside and sign for Newcastle United. The Toons, however, rejected the chance to sign him in 1996 for a measly sum of £1.2 million. Newcastle had apparently scouted him previously and decided he wasn’t good enough for the club.
However, Newcastle weren’t the first English team who had rejected a chance to sign the French maestro. Blackburn owner Jack Walker famously claiming back in 1995, “Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?” Ouch.
Zidane ended up signing for Juventus, where he went on to be a resounding success, winning a FIFA Ballon d’Or in 1998 and also the FIFA World Cup and European Championships with the French national team in 1998 and 2000 respectively.
His performances turned the heads of Real Madrid, who forked a then world record €77.5 million in 2001. His tenure with the Los Blancos was very successful as well, winning numerous trophies including the Champions League.
He then went on to pursue a managerial career within the Real Madrid ranks, starting out with coaching the youth teams before finally taking the reins of the first team in January. He managed to guide them to their 2nd Champions League crown in 2 years and has had an incredible start to his life as a manager.
It’s hard to imagine how different things may have been if he had ended up signing for either of Newcastle or Blackburn.
