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The Ones That Got Away

I was reading an article about the best dribblers and one of the players mentioned was Alvaro Recoba. It got me thinking: Weren't we linked to him once?

Anyway, I thought it'd be a laugh to see the quality players we were linked with but didn't sign for one reason or another — no matter how ridiculous the idea was.

Here's a list of the ones that I can remember off the top of my head:

Requilme,
Muller,
Hagi,
Dahlin (turned out be crap but thought he was quality at the time);
Lineker Mk 2,
Mouthino,
Chris Armstrong,
Stan Collymoore (I think) and
Dean Saunders.

Can't remember many more at the moment.

Trevor Thompson, Croydon Posted 11/02/2013 at 16:38:53

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Nick Entwistle
391 Posted 11/02/2013 at 17:05:01

Benny McCarthy. He would have been excellent had we got him from the off. Essien too, and Flo!

Ste Blundell
406 Posted 11/02/2013 at 17:35:44

Didn't Gordon Lee get offered Ruud Gullit but said that he'd never make it?

Dennis Shaw
408 Posted 11/02/2013 at 17:49:59

Drenthe, the best dribbler around

Dennis Shaw
409 Posted 11/02/2013 at 17:49:59

Drenthe, the best dribbler around

Nathan Moore
411 Posted 11/02/2013 at 17:51:39

Cech & Essien are the two that stand out for me.

Ray Roche
416 Posted 11/02/2013 at 18:06:43

Joe Royle tried to sign Collymore but he went to the RS instead, he was, though, very complimentary about EFC and Joe.
He's still a twat, though. Did anyone hear a punter on the Talkshite phone in a week or two back, regarding a booking or sending off say "He (the offender) didn't hit him as hard as you hit Ulrika". After a moments silence as it sunk in Collymore moved on to the next caller without comment.

Roman Sidey
500 Posted 11/02/2013 at 20:23:36

Riera before he went to the Redshite.
Scott Parker while he was at Chelsea.
Guti back in '05 (?) was a whisper.

Ian Bennett
508 Posted 11/02/2013 at 20:57:11

Viduka,
Yaya Toure,
Joe Hart,
Andy Townsend?
Ince,
Ravenelli,
Sissoko,
Alan Thompson,
David Dunn,
Barry Ferguson?
Emre,
Jo,
Manny Fernandes.

Jamie Sweet
522 Posted 11/02/2013 at 21:39:52

Two which may have made a big difference to the history of this club for various reasons:

Dion Dublin (missing out on him lead to Kendall Mk2 leaving), and Tore Andre Flo (lead to the resignation of Joe Royle).

Nigel Martin first time round was a huge cock-up too.

Dominic Bobadilla
545 Posted 11/02/2013 at 22:05:04

Howard Kendall tried to sign Hagi and McStay.

Alan McGuffog
548 Posted 11/02/2013 at 22:07:10

Didn't Howard want to give Hagi a trial before "signing " him ?

Dominic Bobadilla
549 Posted 11/02/2013 at 22:09:05

Hagi did not like the weather and the quality of the pitches in England. He was never really interested.

Robin Cannon
569 Posted 11/02/2013 at 22:37:03

Should do a "weren't interested" XI vs a "we fucked up the purchase" XI...

James Morgan
572 Posted 11/02/2013 at 22:43:08

Ever Banega.

Ian Bennett
577 Posted 11/02/2013 at 22:51:32

Klinsmann?

Ian Bennett
578 Posted 11/02/2013 at 22:53:17

Cough – Shearer?

Dominic Bobadilla
579 Posted 11/02/2013 at 22:54:33

Oliver Bierhoff made a come-and-get-me-plea to Everton while he was playing For Udinese. This was during Walker's time. Everton were not interested.

Kevin Hudson
598 Posted 11/02/2013 at 23:45:41

Was Ravanelli a target once..?

Andy Matthews
606 Posted 12/02/2013 at 00:25:57

What about Duncan McKenzie?

James Martin
610 Posted 12/02/2013 at 00:35:46

If only Moyes had even paltry funds to play with he could have assembled a world class team. He was sniffing around Eden Hazard and Yaya Toure long before anyone else was. He tried to pounce on Arshavin before his wondrous display at the Euros (perhaps a lucky escpa eon that one). Moutinho, he only needed a few million on top of his initial bid to get a player now worth 20 million +. Subotic, Banega, the list goes on of European talent that Moyes spotted at the irght price but was just not given the money to gamble on them.

Denis Richardson
613 Posted 12/02/2013 at 00:43:08

James – I know you're a massive Moyes fan but I really don't think you can say Moyes somehow spotted Yaya Toure and Eden Hazard before anyone else!

Wenger supposedly wanted to sign Toure when he was young but had work permit issues (having signed his older brother, I would presume that gave him a head start on other managers). Toure was at Monaco before going to Barca and this years before going to Citeh – when exactly did Moyes spot him 'long before anyone else'?

Hazard was/has been touted as one of the most exciting upcoming players in Europe since he was about 15 – he was at Lille since he was a kid and made his international debut at 17 – you really think Moyes 'sniffed' him out before anyone else? Before maybe all the Lille coaches who maybe thought they had a fucking good player on their hands?

Moyes has done a good job but lets try to keep it a bit realistic....

Matt Williams
680 Posted 12/02/2013 at 12:23:47

I once heard back in the 70s that Everton had first dibs on Kevin Keegan but the Cat decided we had too many busy midfield type players. Don't know if that rumour had any substance, maybe some of the older members might recall.

Tony McNulty
923 Posted 13/02/2013 at 12:12:16

Ste (406) Gordon Lee was correct ... he himself never did make it. I remember the treatment of Duncan McKenzie - "a show pony". Lee would have had Alex Young and Gazza in their prime cleaning football boots.

Liam Reilly
931 Posted 13/02/2013 at 12:33:02

Klinsmann was rumoured but didn't he want to live in London and commute via Helicopter at the clubs expense.

Talk about blowing it out of yer own arse.

Craig Walker
938 Posted 13/02/2013 at 13:04:11

Weren't we after Skrtel but he chose the RS?

I think Kendall was keen on David Speedie but he went to the RS. Thought he could have been good for us.

Mick Hoban
187 Posted 14/02/2013 at 09:31:01

I'll have a tonne on that Michael.
The money will be in the bank in the morning.

Mick Hoban
188 Posted 14/02/2013 at 09:32:03

Aargh. Hangover. Wrong thread !!!!

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