Weird Signings You Wanted Us To Make

Just a bit of fun while the transfer window is open and hopefully won't be taken too seriously.

Just popped into my head the other day that I've had players I thought would be great and in hindsight was glad we never went near.

All of us on here think we know loads and are bidding scouts but how wrong have you been?

Who's those players that to you thought would be great for the reds but glad the guys who know far more about this han us never went near?

I'll start off with one, and the evidence is on this site somewhere

Darren Bent.

Had this mad idea that he'd be the perfect Torres back up or even replacement.

I thought trossard was brilliant but he only plays against us. Nunez against us was brilliant so was minamino. These players raise their game for a move and then go back to being average.

Weird, hmm

A midfield player….seems very weird for the club

Just a bit of fun while the transfer window is open and hopefully won't be taken too seriously.

Just popped into my head the other day that I've had players I thought would be great and in hindsight was glad we never went near.

All of us on here think we know loads and are bidding scouts but how wrong have you been?

Who's those players that to you thought would be great for the reds but glad the guys who know far more about this han us never went near?

I'll start off with one, and the evidence is on this site somewhere

Darren Bent.

Had this mad idea that he'd be the perfect Torres back up or even replacement.

was livid when we failed to sign Jean Alain Boumsong.

Sigurdson

Ayala or Aimar when Rafa left Valencia.

Ayoze Perez when he left Newcastle

Was infatuated with the possibility of signing Cristian Tello from Barca. I don’t even know if he still plays football now.

Well not me, but remember a lot on here wanting Arda Turan before he left Galatasaray for Barca

Could probably make an entire squad with those I've wanted us to buy.

Starting in goal and mainly because he was boss on Footy Manager for me, I wanted us to get Craig Gordon from Hearts. Thankfully though we made a much better decision to bring in Pepe Reina.

I remember as a kid wanting us to sign Luke Young from Charlton. I always felt he was a solid dependable right back, very similar to what we had to Steve Finnan. On the opposite side Ian Harte was always my choice for left back. Don't know if he classes as a "weird" signing because he was F***ing boss on his day - especially from dead ball situations. But when Leeds were on the verge of going bust I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to pick him up on the cheap and instead we got Harry Kewell (a signing I was also all for)

A centre half pairing if I had my way would of been Ryan F***ing Shawcross from Stoke and also because he was boss on Footy Manager for my Celtic team, Bobo Balde. Two big fuckers who would win everything in the air and clear everything in sight when putting the ball in row z. None of this playing out from the back.

The two wingers are very questionable indeed but after both had a decent showing at Wigan, I would of snapped your hand off for both James McClean and Callum McManaman. I thought both were pacy tricky wingers, something we didn't get with Stewart Downing.

In the middle of the park, when we were buying anything and everything from Southampton, I was desperate for us to get Morgan Mchneiderlin. And was pissed off that United picked him up instead. But given how his career nosedived after leaving The Dell, I'm quite happy we didn't get him. The other was Nigel Reo-Coker. It was him, Stevie and Xabi in our midfield in my mind but Rafa decided on Mascherano from West Ham instead of Reo-Coker.

Up top is another two because of Footy Manager. Steven Fletcher from Hibs scored a hatful of goals for me so I always wanted us to get him in the real world. Thank F**k we never did! The other is from way back to the point it was on Championship Manager 4. Mikael Forssell just banged goals in for fun on that game and because he was at Chelsea at the start of the Ambrovich era and had been knocked down the pecking order by Crespo and Mutu as well as Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen, I thought we could get him for a snip. I had versions of him and Cisse being a real handful for the opposition.

When we signed Downing I was so disappointed because I really wanted us to sign N'Zogbia who I really rated really high at Wigan and Villa.

Jeez, f***in brain hurts already, eh ok not in any particular order, Paul McStay, Barry Ferguson, Gary Speed, Didier Drogba, Lillian Thuram, Kaka, Rui Costa, Cannavarro, Le Tiss, Brian Laudrup, just a few who sprang to mind ??

I dont have problem with admitting that i got few totally wrong.

Pablo aimar.

Givovanni dos Santos from barca to spurs i think.

Ashley young from villa.

Tello from barca to porto

Queresma, cant remember if he was at benfica or milan at that time. Had few silly rumors linking him to us back then, and i was so hyped for that.

Aquilani, although we did sign him. I was all over the rumor thread swearing how he was going to be better then stevie 😅

Cant remembered the whole name of that Blackburn striker, costa or something.

Owen from real, he was my childhood hero. Heartbroken when he left us, and i wanted him back.

There are probably few others too whom i cant remember. After remembering Aimar, i do wish we would have signed him.

 He was so F***ing good with the ball on his feet. It was like the ball was glued to his feet. You know some players look so good playing football, every their move looks sexy. That was aimar at Valencia.

Im going to watch some youtube vids of him now.

Great thread btw 👍🏼

I dont have problem with admitting that i got few totally wrong.

Pablo aimar.

Givovanni dos Santos from barca to spurs i think.

Ashley young from villa.

Tello from barca to porto

Queresma, cant remember if he was at benfica or milan at that time. Had few silly rumors linking him to us back then, and i was so hyped for that.

Aquilani, although we did sign him. I was all over the rumor thread swearing how he was going to be better then stevie 😅

Cant remembered the whole name of that Blackburn striker, costa or something.

Owen from real, he was my childhood hero. Heartbroken when he left us, and i wanted him back.

There are probably few others too whom i cant remember. After remembering Aimar, i do wish we would have signed him.

 He was so F***ing good with the ball on his feet. It was like the ball was glued to his feet. You know some players look so good playing football, every their move looks sexy. That was aimar at Valencia.

Im going to watch some youtube vids of him now.

Great thread btw 👍🏼

Tore us a new one when Rafa's Valencia played us at Anfield.

Another one I was convinced we where nailed on to get was David Silva after just missing out on the title to Utd in 09.

Didn't have clue Rafa only had about a fiver to spend on players, but was convinced he was yhag one player that would of completed that Rafa team.

Aimar is a great shout. He was actually a good player to be fair (also another great buy on what used to be called Champ Man) but probably too lightweight for the prem and he never hit the heights in the end.

There was another Argie, Barce striker, Saviola? I remember thinking he would be the bollocks. Hugely injury prone though.

Not one I wanted us to sign but does anyone remember how good Julius Aghahowa became    the new Ali Dia 

Aimar is a great shout. He was actually a good player to be fair (also another great buy on what used to be called Champ Man) but probably too lightweight for the prem and he never hit the heights in the end.

There was another Argie, Barce striker, Saviola? I remember thinking he would be the bollocks. Hugely injury prone though.

Not one I wanted us to sign but does anyone remember how good Julius Aghahowa became    the new Ali Dia 

And scored against us after he left Barca at Monaco on the way to Istanbul

I always wanted les Ferdinand.
There were rumours and my hopes lifted… but alas.

Other than that one player I always wished we would have signed was Dion Dublin.

I always hype up the fact that I called Robbos greatness before we signed up. I tend to leave out I said I wanted Michael Keane over VVD. 

Todd Cantwell was another I was WAAYYY off on

Dempsey 🥸

At the time, I thought he was just the type of pr**k we needed. Our team was soft. Oh well.

I wanted us to sign Keane from Forest once upon a time.

Jeez, f***in brain hurts already, eh ok not in any particular order, Paul McStay, Barry Ferguson, Gary Speed, Didier Drogba, Lillian Thuram, Kaka, Rui Costa, Cannavarro, Le Tiss, Brian Laudrup, just a few who sprang to mind ??

John Mcginn, Billy Gilmour! Anyone decent who is Scottish 

I always wanted Defoe. Van der Sar when he was with Fulham.

Was so sad when Clint Dempsey didn't choose us, only because I wanted a player with my name being said by the commentary, I was so immature young teenager. Now I'm 31.

Dele Alli.

I always hype up the fact that I called Robbos greatness before we signed up. I tend to leave out I said I wanted Michael Keane over VVD. 

Todd Cantwell was another I was WAAYYY off on

Ha Cantwell was one of mine as well.

Cant think of anyway, I must be boring or just not enjoy the transfer side of footi.

but here we go, messi would have been good. l o l

Dele Alli.

I remember when he left MK Don's for Spurs and we were after him as well. Was being talked up like Bellingham is now..

Cant remembered the whole name of that Blackburn striker, costa or something.

Don't know if it's any of these but at one point or another, I'd have happily taken these 3 ex-Blackburn forwards.

Roque Santa Cruz, Yakubu (but when he was at Pompey) and Benni McCarthy.

Weird signings we didn't want - no shortage of them that's for sure.

On the other foot. Ollie Watkins as back up but he went to Villa. Milner when Leeds were having a fire sale...got him in the end. But the net is so wide these days and unless we follow all the other leagues throughout Europe we can only guess at who we might sign.

Don't know if it's any of these but at one point or another, I'd have happily taken these 3 ex-Blackburn forwards.

Roque Santa Cruz, Yakubu (but when he was at Pompey) and Benni McCarthy.

it was Santa cruz

Simao.

Not sure if he ever went on to be anything special after he was linked with us.

Simao.

Not sure if he ever went on to be anything special after he was linked with us.

Still remember that worldie he scored when Benfica beat us the year we were CL holders

Figueroa or whatever his name was the Wigan left back who scored from the half way line. I bought into the hype.

Incidentally, also from Wigan (not one I rated), but anyone remember Amr Zaki the big Egyptian striker? He was linked for a bit then disappeared off the face of the earth.

Steed Malbranque of Fulham. Hangaland their CB. Sully Muntari of Portsmouth. Asmir Begovic. Obafemi Martins before his real date of birth was revealed.

Simao.

Not sure if he ever went on to be anything special after he was linked with us.

used to like him, think he had a decent career.
He made 585 appearances and scored 146 goals playing from the wing.
Played for
Sporting
Barcelona
Benfica
Atletico Madrid
Beşiktaş
Valencia
Northeast United
Portugal national team

Figueroa or whatever his name was the Wigan left back who scored from the half way line. I bought into the hype.

Incidentally, also from Wigan (not one I rated), but anyone remember Amr Zaki the big Egyptian striker? He was linked for a bit then disappeared off the face of the earth.

Steed Malbranque of Fulham. Hangaland their CB. Sully Muntari of Portsmouth. Asmir Begovic. Obafemi Martins before his real date of birth was revealed.

All of them I've wanted over the years

Re-signing Michael Owen in 2005 was a must in my eyes. Was gutted when Newcastle got him in the end. At that point he absolutely was still a top striker but it wasn't too long after he popped his knee ligament in the World Cup and that was kind of it for him.

And Rafa was justified in his signings / non signings that summer.  Crouchy and Reina were fantastic and the likes of Zenden, Sissoko and Kromkamp (joking) added quality and depth to us. Terrific FA Cup victory and a strong season in the league culminating in hitting the 80 point mark too. I don't think we ever hit the solid consistency under Rafa as we did that season. Not a great squad but professional and solid throughout.

Lucas Neill in summer 2007. Would have been fine but in hindsight wouldn't have offered too much beyond what we had. That said we went and signed Skrtel in January 2008 which was regrettable so maybe not. An atrociously overrated player and remarkable he stayed as long as he did.

Re-signing Michael Owen in 2005 was a must in my eyes. Was gutted when Newcastle got him in the end.

Problem was he cared more about that England place proving what a little snake he was. Rafa would of got the deal done, he just wasn't prepared to be ripped off for £16 million, especially as we got screwed when originally selling him.

Was done with Owen after August 2004 and I've not changed my mind since.

Though we should have kept Robbie Keane

Anthony Gordon is available

Anthony Gordon is available

And will probably end up at Newcastle

Though we should have kept Robbie Keane

Yeah Torres needed someone to clean his boots

Sigurdson

Me too

LMAO boy did we dodge a bullet with this one.

Honorable mention to Charles N'Zogbia

Problem was he cared more about that England place proving what a little snake he was. Rafa would of got the deal done, he just wasn't prepared to be ripped off for £16 million, especially as we got screwed when originally selling him.

Was done with Owen after August 2004 and I've not changed my mind since.

Pretty sure I’ve heard him say he wanted to come back but it was Real who put that price tag on him , and the club baulked at it , listening to him talk about it I think it was taken out of his hands so to speak , think Real stitched him as much as they stitched us , mind he was a c**t for going down the a580 .

Well, I remember thinking Balotelli might be a good signing.

Victor Wanyama. Juan Veron, before he went to ManU. Tony Yeboah. Oh yeah, Harry Maguire! (The other 3 were actually not really bad.)

For a truly shameful one, when it looked like Stevie might go to Chelsea, I do remember thinking - well he's been a bit injury prone lately, maybe if they gave us a shitload of money plus Frank Lampard, it wouldn't be that bad! Dear god. (Just remember - I didn't have to admit that.)

I wanted Quaresma

I wanted Quaresma

My worst take ever was seeing him in the same young Portuguese team as Cristiano Ronaldo and thinking quaresma would have a better career.

Pretty sure I’ve heard him say he wanted to come back but it was Real who put that price tag on him , and the club baulked at it , listening to him talk about it I think it was taken out of his hands so to speak , think Real stitched him as much as they stitched us , mind he was a c**t for going down the a580 .

Not really, Newcastle bid what Madrid wanted. Rafa was playing the long game with Real, he knew what they were doing, plus getting shut for what we did, there was no way we were going to pay £16 million for him. Owen had a simple decision if he wanted to come back which was say no to Newcastle and we'd play hardball with Real until they relented at around £8 million.

Owen panicked about his England place and off he went in his helicopter to Geordieland.

It was purely in that shitbag"s hands. F**k him.

Gazza for sure and  Hazard were 2 i would have liked

Not really, Newcastle bid what Madrid wanted. Rafa was playing the long game with Real, he knew what they were doing, plus getting shut for what we did, there was no way we were going to pay £16 million for him. Owen had a simple decision if he wanted to come back which was say no to Newcastle and we'd play hardball with Real until they relented at around £8 million.

Owen panicked about his England place and off he went in his helicopter to Geordieland.

It was purely in that shitbag"s hands. F**k him.

Didn’t they stitch us  with the Macca deal as well if my memory serves me right

Didn’t they stitch us  with the Macca deal as well if my memory serves me right

No they did what they always do wait for a contract to run down or encourage player to run down contract. Thst's why Owen's agent was on permo hiatus every time Parry tried to nail him down for contract talks. Owen knew what he was doing for the move out there and knew what he was doing when he left Real.

and we'd play hardball with Real until they relented at around £8 million.

And we could of thrown in Nunez to sweeten the deal.

Would of happily taken Paul Jones on a permanent transfer in the mid 90s rather than a poxy loan spell in Houllier's last year. Him, Martyn or Flowers in our 90s team and we win at least one League title under Evans in my opinion. Not so much Seaman, thought he was vastly overrated because he played behind an incredible back four at Arsenal and showed how prone to cock ups he was when he played for England. Anyone would of been an improvement on James though.

Sticking with the Saints, Jason Dodd as just a reliable right back. With injuries ruining Rob Jones' career, I thought Dodd (or Gary Kelly from Leeds) would of been suitable replacements. Instead we got Veggard Heggem who I always liked and then Markus Babbel who was F***ing boss for that treble winning year.

Micah Richards after the Youth Cup final in 06. I think he'd made his debut for the City first team by then and he looked a F***ing monster amongst the rest of those kids. Whether his career would of worked out better with Rafa as his manager, we'll never know.

I remember when Sunderland went down in the early 2000s, thinking Jody Craddock would of made for a decent option as cover for Hyypia or Henchoz.

Morten Gamst Pedersen when he was the flavour of the month because he got a couple of good free kicks for Blackburn. Versatile left sided player with an actual left foot. Could of worked well with Riise down that side.

There was a time when Middlesbrough were producing Premier League player after Premier League player from their youth system, similar to what Southampton have been praised for in recent years and one of them that I always like was James Morrison and was shocked when he ended up at West Brom. It was around the time we were signing Pennant to play as our right winger.

Another ex Baggie and not just for his goal in the World Cup (or Euros can't remember) but Zoltan Gera was one who I always thought had enough to step up to a top team. Had a decent career with West Brom and Fulham but never reached the heights I thought he would.

A left footed central midfielder who I always liked when he was breaking through at Villa was Barry Bannan and I think I may well of said as much on this forum at some point that we should of bought him. I know me mam's cousin loves him as he's a Wednesday fan where Bannan has spent most of his career.

I was always a fan of Stan Lazaridis when he was at West Ham and then Birmingham, though I think we did better signing Paddy Berger instead.

Wilfried Bony was one who's hype I believed when he was banging them in at Swansea and thought City had a real gem when they bought him but his career didn't work out that way. He ended up being a total flop after leaving Wales.

And his strike partner in this team would be Kevin Doyle who I thought looked a decent player at Reading and did no more than ok at Wolves. I would throw Sylvan Ebanks-Blake into this list but once I found out he was an ex-United player, I never wanted us to go near him so his ex-Wolves teammate, Kevin Doyle will have to go in.