The best near-transfers in Bundesliga history
The Bundesliga is not a league that we are used to seeing really big signings, with the exception of Bayern Munich. Normally, teams opt for lesser-known players, partly due to the regulations that the league has in place to maintain the financial health of the clubs. However, despite this, there have been some almost-signings that could have changed the league in a total way. Today we are going to review some signings of German clubs that were close to being completed, but for economic or other reasons, did not come to pass.
Ronaldo to Stuttgart
We start the list off strong, as one of the best strikers in the history of football was able to wear the Stuttgart jersey, a team that, according to Ronaldo himself, was the first European team to show interest in him. We are talking about 1994, when the Brazilian was still at Cruzeiro. Ralf Rangnick, the famous German manager, was at that time the coach of Stuttgart's under 19 team and received a recommendation from a Brazilian football player whom he personally went to see play.Obviously, the German was convinced and the club started to negotiate with Cruzeiro, however, the president of the Brazilian club at that time was also a politician from the Belo Horizonte area and there were upcoming elections, so he did not want to sell Ronaldo. Finally, he raised the player's price to the point that Stuttgart left the negotiating table, although later PSV did pay what they were asking.
Ronaldinho to Borussia Dortmund
In 2000, Dortmund was the first publicly traded club on the German stock market and that gave them a certain economic power, which they used to bring in, for example, Tomas Rosicky and Jan Koller. The club's project was focused on repeating the European success they achieved in the mid-90s and at that time, Ronaldinho was a young promise of Brazilian football who had many admirers in Europe. In this case, according to Ronaldinho, at that time, he did not see himself ready to make a jump that he considered too big, from Gremio to Dortmund and opted to sign for Paris Saint-Germain, which at that time, was a minor club compared to today's PSG.
Petr Cech to Werder Bremen
The Czech goalkeeper had stood out from a very young age in his country and that led him to represent the Czech Republic in all the youth categories. Thanks to this exposure, in 2001, when he was barely 19 years old, he did a trial with Werder Bremen which he easily passed, but the Germans were not willing to pay the 600 thousand euros that Chmel Blsany, the club where Cech was at that time, was asking for. In addition, one of the club's directors said that Jakub Wierzchowski, Bremen's Polish reserve goalkeeper, was better than Cech. It should be noted that Wierzchowski was classified as one of the weakest goalkeepers in the Bundesliga by the German press.Harry Kane to Union Berlin
Long before Bayern Munich even thought about signing Harry Kane, the Englishman had the chance to go and play in Germany. In 2014, when the English striker had already spent time on loan at several clubs as part of his professional training and was starting to get minutes at Tottenham, Union Berlin tried to secure his signing. Both the player and his club considered the Germans' offer, but Kane himself ended up rejecting it and staying in England, betting on continuing to get more and more minutes with Tottenham.
Thiago Silva to Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen have always sought to sign players in South America, a market that has given them some very successful ones. In 2008, Thiago Silva was at Fluminense looking to relaunch his career after two experiences in Europe (FC Porto and Dinamo Moscow) that were not successful and Leverkusen was looking to strengthen its central defense. Fluminense, knowing the player's potential, asked for 10 million euros, an amount that the German club considered too much and hence the signing did not go through. A year later, AC Milan agreed to pay those 10 million and signed Thiago Silva.Pavel Nedved to Duisburg
Another Ballon d'Or winner appears on the list, and this time it is the Czech star Pavel Nedved who in 1996, after a very good performance at the Euro, aroused the interest of several teams around Europe. At that time, he was still playing in his country with Sparta Prague, but then almost signed for PSV in the Netherlands and although he finally ended up in Lazio. Negotiations with Duisburg took place before the Euro championship and at a certain point, the three parties, the player, Sparta and the German club, decided to wait until after the Euro, depending on how Nedved performed there. Unfortunately for the Germans, the great performance of the player and his national team made Duisburg no longer an attractive option for the Czech.
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