Every transfer window brings a wave of excitement as supporters dare to dream about high-profile signings transforming their club’s fortunes.
Few stories capture that feeling better than Tottenham’s long-forgotten pursuit of Gift Orban, a prolific Nigerian striker who briefly set European football alight.
In the summer of 2023, Orban was just 21 years old and had already established himself as one of the most exciting young forwards in the game.
After scoring 16 goals in 22 games for Norwegian top-flight side Stabaek, he moved to Belgian club Gent and netted 20 times in just 22 matches.
In a remarkable four-day spell in March 2023, he scored seven goals across two games, including four in a 6-2 league win over Zulte Waregem and a hat-trick against Istanbul Basaksehir in the Conference League.
That hat-trick, completed within three minutes and 25 seconds, was at the time a record in Uefa club competitions.
With Harry Kane heading to Bayern Munich, Spurs stalled over a £25m fee and the move collapsed under newly-appointed boss Ange Postecoglou.
Since then, Orban has moved through four clubs, most recently joining newly-promoted Turkish top-flight side Amedspor on loan, never quite recapturing his most explosive form.
But Orban is far from the only player whose potential move to an English club never came to fruition, with some of football’s greatest names involved in similarly failed transfers.
In January 2009, newly-rich Manchester City tabled a staggering £108m offer for AC Milan playmaker Kaka, which would have been more than double the world record transfer fee at the time.
One City supporter was so confident the deal would happen that he reportedly had the Brazilian’s name tattooed on his chest, only to be left disappointed when Kaka turned down the move.
The 2007 Ballon d’Or winner instead joined Real Madrid for a then-world record £56m later that year, going on to win La Liga and the Spanish Cup before eventually retiring with Sao Paulo.
Bolton Wanderers also had grand ambitions in 2004, when manager Sam Allardyce made an audacious approach for 32-year-old Brazilian World Cup winner Rivaldo, who had been frozen out at AC Milan.
Rivaldo even issued a statement declaring: “I want the challenge of trying to get Bolton into Europe for the first time in their history. It is an exciting time.”
He ultimately chose Greek side Olympiakos instead, while Bolton finished sixth in 2004-05, reaching Uefa Cup qualifying that season and going on to reach the last 32.
Perhaps the most extraordinary near-miss in English football history came in 1995, when Blackburn Rovers owner Jack Walker dismissed the chance to sign Zinedine Zidane from Bordeaux.
Both Zidane and France forward Christophe Dugarry had flown to England for talks, but Walker famously replied to club management: “Why do we need Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?”
Zidane went on to win the World Cup, two Italian league titles with Juventus, and both La Liga and the Champions League with Real Madrid.
In 2005, Steven Gerrard handed in a transfer request at Liverpool, with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho ready to pay £32m to bring the England midfielder to Stamford Bridge.
Gerrard ultimately stayed, citing “family reasons”, and went on to make more than 700 appearances for Liverpool, though Mourinho later admitted failing to sign him was one of his greatest transfer disappointments.
Kylian Mbappe could also have ended up at Anfield in 2017, with the then-Monaco forward holding talks with Liverpool, whose manager Jurgen Klopp laid on a private jet and food for Mbappe and his family.
Mbappe himself confirmed the talks, saying: “I talked to Liverpool because it’s the favourite club of my mum, my mum loves Liverpool,” before opting for Paris St-Germain and later Real Madrid.
Finally, Fulham made a surprising £12m approach for Antoine Griezmann in January 2014, only to spend that same figure on Kostas Mitroglou, who managed just three Premier League appearances without scoring before the club were relegated.
Griezmann stayed at Real Sociedad, went on to spend nine seasons across two spells at Atletico Madrid and two years at Barcelona, and helped France win the 2018 World Cup.
