The Premier League is arguably the biggest football league in the world. Top players all over the world want to be a part of the league. The teams keep adding quality to their squads every season.
With the intense competition amongst the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal for a place in the top 4, investment in the biggest talents is a must. Such fierce competition is also present at the bottom of the league as survival depends on the ability of the teams to add quality to their ranks.
It’s fascinating when we look back at the transfers that could have been. Cristiano Ronaldo could have been an Arsenal player, Ronaldinho chose Barcelona over Manchester United, Lewandowski could have been a Bolton Wanderers player but for the poor weather. These are a few such unfortunate failed transfers that have had a huge impact in subsequent years.
Although a lot of top players are brought into the Premier League, there are some that cannot or choose not to make it into the Premier League. Players decide to go elsewhere, contractual terms are not agreed upon and several such factors play a part in these failed moves. Here’s a look back at two such transfers that could have improved the league’s quality:
Kylian Mbappe
One of the hottest young prospects in Europe, Kylian Mbappe was a prime target for Arsenal, Real Madrid, PSG and several top sides of Europe. At only 18 years of age, he had taken the French league by surprise as did his club, AS Monaco, in the 2016/17 season.
Wenger has always been criticized for spending too low when it came to recruiting players. An under-pressure Arsene Wenger was looking for a signing to send out a statement; a marquee signing to end doubts about him being in charge of Arsenal.
Like most other cases, Arsenal were priced out of the deal. AS Monaco set his price to be over the three-figure mark. Eventually, Mbappe moved onto PSG in the summer of 2018 on loan, with his transfer becoming permanent this summer.
Mbappe is flourishing for both PSG and the national team now, while Wenger exited the club after 22 years in charge. The World Cup winner even admitted that a transfer to the Emirates transfer was a ‘real option’.
Antoine Griezmann
With Mourinho at the helm and the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba brought to the club, United looked towards Atletico Madrid’s French superstar Antoine Griezmann in search of goals and support for Lukaku.
Newspapers claimed that the transfer was all but done. But the deal that looked inevitable, collapsed out of the blue. The Roji Blancos were facing a transfer ban having failed to comply with the transfer norms.
In times of crisis, Griezmann decided to stick with the club that helped him to become the superstar we know today. He knew Atletico would not be able to replace him due to the transfer ban, so he decided against the move and stayed at Atletico pledging his loyaltyA to the club and fans.