Bastian Schweinsteiger is not the only world star who Newcastle United let slip through their fingers.
Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger reacts
Terry McDermott’s revelation to Sky Sports yesterday that James Milner was sold by Newcastle eight years ago only on the proviso that they could land Bastian Schweinsteiger as his replacement served as a confirmation to one of the north-east’s worst-kept secrets.
It had been widely reported that Kevin Keegan was close to wrapping up the £3 million capture of the Bayern Munich star, only for Mike Ashley to pull the plug and sign Xisco and Ignacio Gonzalez instead, prompting Keegan’s indignant resignation.
The German international subsequently went on to win four more Bundesligas, a Champions League and a World Cup, while Newcastle had suffered relegation at the end of the 08/09 season.
The Manchester United midfielder is not the first star that Newcastle have narrowly missed out on however, having let slip a number of top-class players throughout the years.
Take a look at five other stars who Newcastle will have rued missing out on.
Luka Modric
Mike Ashley blocked the transfer of Luka Modric to St. James’ Park not once, but twice. Having shone for Croatia at Wembley during a Euro 2008 qualifier, Sam Allardyce identified the Dinamo Zagreb playmaker as a target but once Ashley, who had recently seized control of the club, had looked at the ‘scale of the debt’, he ‘put the clamps’ on. Newcastle subsequently signed Geremi from Chelsea instead.
When Keegan replaced Allardyce once he was sacked in January 2008, he too earmarked Modric as a potential signing. The former Newcastle boss claims that he met the Croatian in a bid to iron out a move, only for vice-president Tony Jimenez to determine that he wasn’t Premier League quality.
Modric went on to sign for Spurs, and subsequently Real Madrid.
Croatia’s Luka Modric celebrates after the game
Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane needs no introduction, as one of the greatest technicians to have graced the game. Two years prior to his 1998 World Cup-winning exploits, the Frenchman had been offered to Newcastle by football agent Barry Silkman, with Zidane angling for a move away from Bordeaux.
Speaking to sport.co.uk he said “I offered him to Newcastle at the beginning of the 1996 season for £1.2 million. And they watched him and said that he wasn’t good enough to play in the First Division. Three months later he went to Juventus for £1.2 million and two years later he went for £48 million. So I think the people at Newcastle got it slightly wrong.”
Reuters / Picture supplied by Action Images *** Local Caption *** RBBORH2004061200766.jpg
Aaron Ramsey
In the days before Mike Ashley, when Freddy Shepherd was pulling the strings in the executives’ box, Newcastle were intent on solving their problems with money every summer. However, despite spending the likes of £17 million on Michael Owen, the club baulked at Cardiff City’s £500,000 asking price for a teenage Aaron Ramsey.
He subsequently signed for Arsenal a couple of years later, following a tug-of-war between them, Manchester United and Everton, and has established himself as a key player at both domestic and international level with the Gunners and Wales respectively.
Wales’ Aaron Ramsey
Michael Carrick
Not many players spend over ten years at Old Trafford but such is the level of consistency in Michael Carrick’s game, that is exactly what he has achieved. The 35-year-old midfielder from Wallsend may have dreamed of pulling on the famous black-and-white stripes but he never did, beginning his career at West Ham in 1999 after leaving the Newcastle academy.
John Carver, who worked at the academy while Carrick was there, told the BBC’s Match of the Day 2 Extra “He was coming into the football club when I was centre of excellence director at the time. It was at a time when Kevin (Keegan) got rid of the reserve team so there wasn’t an avenue to get into the first team. So I couldn’t keep Michael Carrick, he ended up going to West Ham.”
Manchester United’s Michael Carrick celebrates after winning the FA Cup at the end of the match
Rivaldo
Sir Bobby Robson had been recently knighted after guiding Newcastle into the Champions League, and was already hell-bent on bringing one of the world’s most famous coveted footballers to the north-east of England.
Barcelona’s Rivaldo, a former World Footballer of the Year, was earmarked as a potential signing and a deal was said to have been agreed, with Robson claiming that he would be a Magpie within a few weeks.
Unfortunately for Newcastle, Rivaldo went on to have a stellar World Cup, controversial face-clutching dive aside, as Brazil stormed to a fifth Jules Rimet. He decidedly signed for AC Milan on a free transfer instead.
Rivaldo scores for Brazil v England – 2002
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