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The Premier League is in its 27th season, since its foundation in February 1992, and is currently one of the most watched sports leagues in the world. It is broadcast approximately to 643 million homes and is watched by more than 4.7 billion people all around the world. It is a highly enticing affair, dividing fans over club loyalties and boasts of the second highest stadium attendance in a professional league in the world, behind the Bundesliga.
Since its start, the Premier League has been home to some of the best players of the World, whose presence has added glamour and quality to the league. Since the addition of the lucrative TV deals and broadcast rights, the spending power of Premier League clubs has increased by leaps and bounds and this has made the league even more attractive to football players around the world. Add to this the fact that it is the most watched and most followed league in the world and the Premier League would seem like it is the place to be for every football superstar. However, that is not the case.
The Premier League has been graced by some of the most talented footballers in the world, however, there are also some immensely gifted ones who never set foot here and today we look at 7 great footballers who had offers on the table, but opted not to join the Premier League.
#7 Kaka
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, commonly known as Kaka, is one of the most loved Brazilian footballers in the planet. He was the last player to have won the prestigious Ballon d'Or before the Messi-Ronaldo monopoly, back in 2007, the same year he won the FIFA World Player of the Year. His list of personal honors is long, endless and glittery. He won the FIFA World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and announced himself to the world.
Kaka started his club career at Sao Paolo and before the start of the 2003/04 season, secured a move to AC Milan. He played there for 6 years, scoring 95 goals from 270 games and it was here that he mesmerized the world with his dribbling ability and technical game. At Milan, Kaka won the Serie A, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, and Supercoppa Italiana. It was arguably the greatest phase of his career.
By the summer of 2009, Real Madrid had come calling, however, Kaka’s time at the Spanish giants was less pleasant, owing to injuries that affected his game. In the 4 years at the Bernabeu, Kaka scored 29 goals from 120 appearances, winning the La Liga and the Copa Del Rey.
In September 2013, Kaka moved back to Milan for a year before joining Orlando City in the MLS in January 2015. He had a brief loan stint at his first club Sao Paolo in the middle, before ultimately hanging his boots in December 2017. He had played 75 games in the MLS, scoring 24 goals and registering 22 assists.
It is surprising that none of the Premier League giants had attempted to bring such a talented player to the league. It was rumored that Manchester United and Arsenal were interested in him, however, a move never materialized. Kaka had revealed last year that he had rejected a move to Manchester City in 2009 due to uncertainties in squad building process. The Brazilian remains one of the greatest players ever to not have played in the premier league.
#6 Pavel Nedved
The Czech icon is one of the greatest midfielders of his generation and was a much-loved footballer all over the world. He was known as the Czech cannon during his football career and was a valuable part of the Czech team that reached the final of the 1996 Euro. Nedved won the Ballon d’Or in 2003, before going on to win the European Footballer of the Year in the same year. He won many other accolades in his wonderful playing career, including the Golden Foot, Czech Footballer of the Year and Czech Golden Ball among others.
Nedved started his club career at Dukla Prague in the 1991/92 season, before moving to Sparta Prague next season. During the 1995/96 season, Nedved scored 19 goals from 38 games and attracted the attention of Italian giants Lazio. He moved to the Stadio Olimpico in the summer of 1996, where he spent 5 fruitful seasons, winning a Serie A title, 2 Coppa Italia, 2 Super Coppa Italia, 1 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and 1 UEFA Super Cup.
In the summer of 2001, Nedved transferred to Juventus to replace Zinedine Zidane and spent 8 seasons at Turin, before retiring at the end of 2008/09 season, having won 2 Serie A titles, 2 Supercoppa Italiana and 1 Serie B title.
Pavel Nedved currently serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors at Juventus and it is a pity that Little Bear never set foot in the Premier League as a player.
Nedved has revealed that he had an offer to join Chelsea in 2006, but chose to stay with Juventus as the club were demoted to the Serie B. He refused to leave his club in crisis and as such a move to Stamford Bridge never occurred. Nedved, however, says that his biggest regret in life is that he never got to play for Sir Alex Ferguson. A move to United stayed an unfulfilled dream, as did playing alongside Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, two footballers he admired.
#5 Andrea Pirlo
Andrea Pirlo is one of the greatest deep-lying playmakers in the history of the game. He was a part of the Italian Team that lifted the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was the man of the match of the final Match against France and was the top assist provider of the tournament.
He started his professional career at Brescia and won the Serie B there. He next moved to Internazionale, however, since he was unable to break into the team, he was loaned back to Brescia, and it was here that he was first deployed in the deep-lying playmaker role. Ahead of the 2001/02 season, Pirlo joined AC Milan and became one of the greatest deep-lying playmakers of the world. He spent 10 seasons there, winning the Serie A title twice, two UEFA Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups, FIFA Club World Club, Supercoppa Italiana, and the Coppa Italia.
In the summer of 2011, Pirlo joined Juventus on a free transfer and won the Serie A title in each of his 4 seasons at Turin. He also won the Coppa Italia and two Supercoppa Italiana and was a huge hit with the Old Lady. After the end of his contract with Juventus, Pirlo joined MLS side New York City and at the end of the 2017 season, Pirlo retired from Football.
In 2014, Pirlo revealed that he had almost followed his mentor Carlo Ancelotti to Chelsea in 2009, but in the end decided to stay at Milan. Had the Architect made the move to Stamford Bridge, he certainly would have lit up the Premier League.
#4 Xavi
A star product of the fabled Barcelona Academy, the Spanish midfield maestro eased into the Barcelona team from the Barcelona B team in the 1998/99 season and spent 17 years at the Nou Camp, where he went on to become one of the greatest midfielders of his generation. He won 8 La Liga titles, three Copa Del Rey, six Supercopa de Espana, two UEFA Super Cup, two FIFA Club World Cups, and four UEFA Champions League titles. In addition, he won two UEFA European Championships and one FIFA World Cup with Spain. Xavi is one of the most decorated footballers of his era and was the backbone of the Barcelona dominance in the 21st century.
The Spaniard left Barcelona at the end of the 2014/15 season and joined Al Sadd in the Qatar Stars League where he is still playing.
Xavi has since revealed that he had an offer to join Louis van Gaal in 2014 during his revamp at Manchester United but rejected the offer to join the Premier League giants to extend his stay at Nou Camp. With the players who had joined the United rooster that summer, Xavi perhaps would have been the ideal addition to make them click, yet United could not persuade him to make the move.
#3 Andres Iniesta
Iniesta, like Xavi, is a product of the fabled La Masia and made his professional debut for Barcelona in the 2002/03 season. He went on to feature in 16 seasons for Barcelona and played 674 games for the Spanish Giants, scoring 57 goals. He won 9 La Liga titles, 6 Copa Del Rey, 6 Supercopa de Espana, 3 FIFA Club World Cup, 2 UEFA Super Cup, and 4 UEFA Champions League. He also won the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Spain along with the 2008 and 2012 Euros.
He is considered one of the greatest midfielders of his generation and would have certainly won the Ballon d'Or, but he was unlucky to be in the era of Messi and Ronaldo. Iniesta ended his long association with the Catalans at the end of last season and joined Japanese Club Vissel Kobe in a 3-year deal.
Iniesta was tipped to be Moyes’ first signing at Manchester United, but the unrealistic move never materialized. After the end of his Barcelona career, Manchester City had come knocking, with a player cum Assistant Manager deal, but Iniesta opted against it. The Premier League is certainly poorer without the presence of the effervescent Spaniard.
#2 Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane is a footballing icon and has won almost everything there is to win in the world of Football. He started his career at Cannes and shifted to Bordeaux in 1992. He spent 4 seasons there, playing 179 games and scoring 39 goals, before securing a move to Italian giants Juventus in 1996. It was at Turin that the Frenchman finally announced himself to the world, winning two Serie A titles, one Supercoppa Italiana, one UEFA Super Cup, one intercontinental cup and one UEFA Intertoto Cup. He won the 1998 World Cup with France and the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the year in the same year. He would go on to win two more FIFA World Player of the year awards. He also won the 2000 Euro with France.
In 2001, Zidane transferred to Real Madrid for a then World record transfer fee. He went on to play 225 games for the Spanish Giants, winning the La Liga and the Champions League among others and retired at the end of the 2005/06 season. He has since then made a successful transition into Soccer Management and was a revelation at Real Madrid.
In 2010 it was revealed by football agent Barry Silkman that Newcastle had the chance to sign Zidane before he joined Juventus, but rejected the offer to bring him to St. James Park. In addition, Manchester United’s ex-Chairman Martin Edwards has said that United were the front-runners alongside Juventus in 1996 for Zidane’s signature, but backed away because he and Eric Cantona occupied the same position. It is another story of missed opportunity for United because Cantona retired next year and a midfield of Zidane and Scholes would have made the Premier League sizzle.
#1 Ronaldinho
The footballer whose smiling face conquered as many hearts as his football, Ronaldinho was a magician on the field and is one of the greatest players ever to play the beautiful game. The Brazilian started his career at Gremio, where he played 145 games, scoring 72 goals. He moved to PSG in 2001 and played for two seasons before joining Barcelona, where he would leave a legacy behind. In the five seasons that he was at the Nou Camp, Ronaldinho played 207 games, scoring 94 goals and his tricks and skills entertained the whole world and kick-started Barcelona’s dominance in Europe.
He won 2 La Liga Titles, two Supercopa de Espana and one Champions League trophy, before moving to Milan in 2008, where he played for 3 seasons. He would go on to play for Flamengo, Atletico Minero, Queretaro in the Liga MX and Fluminense in a colorful twilight of his career. Ronaldinho then moved to India to feature in the Premier Futsal League for two seasons before finally retiring.
During his long and fruitful career, Ronaldinho had won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil as well as the 1999 Copa America. He won the Ballon d'Or in 2005 and was adjudged the FIFA World Player of the year in 2004 and 2005.
Apparently, the Brazilian was just 48 hours away from joining Manchester United in the summer of 2003, to replace Beckham, however, the move fell through, as Beckham joined Real Madrid and Ronaldinho moved to Barcelona. However, it ultimately worked in United favor as United signed an unknown teenager named Cristiano Ronaldo to replace Beckham. One can be forgiven for wondering how different things would have been had Ronaldo blossomed under the guidance of Ronaldinho at Manchester United.
