This summer, two huge names have been linked with moves to Scottish football. First, bookmakers slashed the odds on Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic joining Celtic – he later joined Manchester United instead.
This week, Robin Van Persie was linked with a shock move to Ibrox but just hours after Ladbrokes suspended all bets on the deal, Rangers manager Mark Warburton laughed off any chance of it happening.
Throughout the history of Scottish football, fans have been tantalised with rumours of huge names coming to our nation’s top division. Some, such as Frank de Boer, Fabrizio Ravanelli and diminutive Brazilian hero Juninho, have signed on the dotted line. Others have not.
From relationship breakdowns over ‘insulting’ trial offers to fear of the brisk Scottish winter – and summer – here are 12 genuine football superstars who nearly became SPFL players and the stories behind why they never did…
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1. Samuel Eto’o – Rangers
This wont come as a shock to many Rangers fans. Before becoming a legend at Barcelona, then manager Alex McLeish was such a fan of Eto’o that he openly discussed the player in the press.
However, McLeish eventually decided against making a move for him and he instead stayed with Mallorca before getting his big break with Barcelona.
Eto’o is still scoring goals for fun today and has a strike record of 20 goals in 31 appearances for current club Antalyaspor.
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2. Ronaldinho – St Mirren
The Samba superstar was close to making the move to Love Street back in 2001 in what would have probably been the greatest signing in Scottish football history.
He was supposed to join on loan as part of a move from Brazilian side Gremio to PSG to allow him to acclimatise to European football.
Then Love Street manager Tom Hendrie revealed that only a passport problem caused the deal to fall through, saying: “We spoke about Ronaldinho but there was a legal problem at the club he was at.”
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3. Didier Drogba – Celtic
Take a deep breath Celtic fans…. Momo Sylla is the reason this one never happened.
Back in 2003, when Drogba was one of the most exciting prospects in French football, he called his compatriot about the possibility of coming to Celtic.
At the time Celtic had a strong frontline featuring Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson.
Sylla reportedly told Drogba he wouldn’t be able to break into the side and it wasn’t even worth trying. So that was that.
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4. Dennis Bergkamp – Rangers
Back before Bergkamp became a North London legend, the Dutch striker was enduring a torrid and much criticised time at Inter Milan.
Desperate for a way out, his agent linked up a move to Ibrox. Rangers even reportedly had him staying at a Loch Lomond hotel and had shown him around the stadium.
However, Arsenal soon got word of his availability and swooped in to take him to the Premier League, where he would go on to be one of the league’s best ever strikers.
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5. Riyad Mahrez – St Mirren
Another ‘what could have been’ story for St Mirren (and likely not the last after former bit-part squad player Aaron Mooy joined mega-rich Manchester City).
Mahrez came to Paisley on trial only to fake an injury and run away because it was too cold. He told L’Equipe that he had to borrow a bike to get his things from the training ground before heading home. A far cry from the glamour of winning the Premier League.
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6. Rivaldo – Celtic
In 2004, and still at the very reasonable age of 32, Rivaldo was asked by Celtic to join them on their pre-season tour.
While Celtic fans may have been excited at the news, it turns out Rivaldo wasn’t too impressed. He hit out at the club for offering the matches as a trial and took offence at not being offered a deal outright.
He later joined Olympiacos and enjoyed brilliant 3 year spell with the Greeks, scoring 43 goals in 81 games for the club.
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7. Edgar Davids – Dundee
In the early 2000s, Dundee made a habit of signing big name players. International favourites such as Fabrizio Ravanelli and Claudio Caniggia made a huge impression when they agreed to join the club.
But in 2003, and when he was still a top-level player, Dundee made an enquiry about the availability of Dutch superstar Edgar Davids. The then 30-year-old was in his sixth year at Juventus and had made it clear he wanted to leave the club.
With top sides such as Chelsea and a host of Italian teams chasing the midfielder, Dundee decided to throw their name into the ring. After making reported losses of £6.6million the previous season however, his £70,000-a-week wages were never really a reasonable prospect.
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8. Ronaldo – Rangers
Can you imagine? Unlike many others on this list, Ronaldo was at the peak of his powers and lauded by managers around the world at the time of his talks with Rangers.
While at Barcelona, he had the choice of either joining the Ibrox side or Inter Milan but ultimately chose the latter.
Rangers, desperate to win the Champions League, were prepared to offer him a deal where he would only have to play in European matches. Even weirder, the move would have seen Rangers’ kit makers, Nike, effectively owning the player.
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9. Alessandro Del Piero – Celtic
The most curious element of this story is Del Piero’s repeated assertion throughout the latter part of his career that he would like to make the move – even when he wasn’t being sought.
Instead of then-manager Neil Lennon chasing the Italian great, it was instead Del Piero who used the media to issue a come-and-get me plea.
While Lennon did indeed approach Del Piero about a deal, a move to Sydney FC evidently seemed more appealing than a switch to Glasgow’s East End.
However, two years later, Del Piero reached out again – although this time he was older than the club’s new manager Ronny Deila. Perhaps not.
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10. Andreas Iniesta – Rangers
According to Graham Hunter, author of Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World, Iniesta was subject to a loan bid from the Ibrox side early in his career.
In the process of attempting to sign another of Barca’s top youth prospects (more on that shortly), their assistant manager at the time, Henk Ten Cate, suggested they should look at young Andreas instead.
The deal only collapsed when officials at the club meant that the young Spaniard was too good to loan out and would instead play a role in the first team earlier than first thought.
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11. Diego Maradona – Dundee
Maradona famously nearly signed for Sheffield United in 1978 but that’s not the only time El Diego almost made his way to British shores.
In early 2001, shorty before the Dundee bubble burst, he was set to make an appearance for the club in a one-off glamour friendly.
Good friends with fellow Argentinian Claudio Caniggia, who signed for Dundee the October previous, organisers were keen to rekindle the up-front pairing which took Argentina to the final of the 1990 World Cup.
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12. Lionel Messi – Rangers
No, really. Alex McLeish’s tenure at Rangers is testament to the Scots’ adventurous approach to transfers. Some worked a treat and players such as Henning Berg and Mikel Arteta went on to be huge successes at Ibrox.
Others, like Nuno Capucho and Emerson, were not so good. However, McLeish’s signing campaign almost led him to one of the world’s greatest modern players.
Ultimately, Barca assistant Henk Ten Cate ruled that Messi was still too young and too slight to get the most out of Scottish football and the club decided not to risk one of their brightest prospects to the physicality of the SPL.
Even then, Messi was one of the best-known names in football after starring at the Fifa World Youth Championship in Holland and then signing a contract with an eye-watering £150million release fee. If only.
