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Laurence Taylor (@laurence_1999)
Apr 23, 20208 min read

Some bullets we've dodged

Updated: Nov 15, 2022


I know that all the talk is about takeover that looks like it's about to happen but following on from my article about players we forgot signed for us and the one about the top players we were linked with but didn't sign, let's talk about some other players we were linked with, never signed but this time in doing so, dodged a bullet.

Luís Boa Morte

Despite signing a new contract with Fulham in January 2005, Luís Boa Morte was still interested in a move up north and Graeme Souness had him as a transfer target in the summer. We brought back Nolberto Solano instead and Boa Morte only scored twice in four and a half years after leaving for West Ham United in January 2007 before seeing his contract cancelled in August 2011 following relegation. He eventually retired in 2013 after short spells at AE Larissa, Orlando Pirates and Chesterfield.

Luis Boa Morte

Modibo Maïga

Another player who we could've signed but didn't before they flopped at Upton Park, Modibo Maïga refused to train or play with his Sochaux teammates and handed in a transfer request when we were interested in the summer of 2011. A move didn't materialise that summer but we eventually agreed a £7,000,000 fee to sign him in the January window three months early. He underwent his medical around two and a half weeks before the window opened but failed. We eventually got Papiss Cissé from Freiburg and he scored thirteen goals in fourteen games in his first half season to fire us into Europe. Although he was unable to recapture that form, he was still better than Maïga, who netted just seven goals in fourty-five games for the Hammers before one goal in eight games on loan at Queens Park Rangers in the Championship in 2014. He did better on loan at Metz in 2014-15 (still not enough to prevent relegation though) but it must have been a relief for West Ham fans when he was finally shipped out to Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr by new manager Slaven Bilić in August 2015. His embarrassing spell in East London also served him right for his awful attitude when we were interested four years earlier. Whilst we dodged a bullet with Maïga, West Ham, in return, dodged a bullet that summer with Joselu (if you believed reports about their interest), who would go on to flop on Tyneside.

Modibo Maïga

Gervinho

Another Ligue 1 striker spotted by Graham Carr in 2011, we also agreed a £10,000,000 fee with Lille for the pacey Gervinho after signing Yohan Cabaye for £4,300,000 from the Ligue 1 champions. Like the failed move for Maïga, we subsequently signed a Senegalese striker that would turn out to be miles better in Demba Ba whilst Gervinho scored only eleven goals in sixty-three games in all competitions for Arsenal, having been sent off after a scrap with Joey Barton on his debut in a 0-0 opening day draw at St James' Park. Just imagine if we had him and Maïga instead of Ba and Cisse that season, we'd have probably been lucky to finish mid-table.

Gervinho

Darren Bent

After a disappointing 2012-13 season for Darren Bent, which saw him slip behind new signing Christian Benteke in the pecking order in Aston Villa as he only scored three goals in sixteen league games in Paul Lambert's first season at the club, Alan Pardew was interested in a move for Villa's record signing but he joined Fulham on loan, where he only scored three goals in twenty-four goals as the Cottagers went down. He left Villa Park permanently for Derby County in June 2015 and hasn't returned to the top flight since but during a loan spell at Burton Albion, he did net their equaliser as they came from behind to beat his former club Sunderland 2-1 away from home, which sealed their relegation to League One after the Mackems told us to "enjoy Burton away" following our 2016 relegation.

Darren Bent

Ravel Morrison

It's crazy to think to Paul Pogba looked up to Ravel Morrison in the youth teams at Manchester United but he was described by Alex Ferguson as the best player in his age group that the Red Devils had on their books, having made his first team debut at the age of seventeen in October 2010 against Wolverhampton Wanderers and scored twice in the FA Youth Cup final later that season. However, off pitch controversies led to him being transfer listed and we had a bid rejected for him in January 2012 and like Boa Morte and Maïga, he went and flopped at West Ham United. He might have scored an amazing solo goal in their shock 3-0 win at rivals Tottenham Hotspur in October 2013 but had we signed him, he would've been dubbed as our new Nile Ranger as his attitude eventually saw him leave East London for Lazio before loan spells at Queens Park Rangers and Club Atlas and then six games at Östersunds in Sweden and at twenty-seven, he's now on loan at Middlesbrough from Sheffield United.

Mido

In June 2004, Mido claimed that he had agreed terms and was just waiting on Marseille to agree a fee with us. The Egyptian striker went to Roma, where he made fourteen goalless appearances before joining Tottenham Hotspur on loan for the 2005-06 season. He joined Spurs permanently after eleven goals in twenty-seven games that season but would only nine more goals in fifty-eight Premier League appearances at Spurs, Middlesbrough and West Ham United after his loan spell at White Hart Lane.

Mido

Bryan Ruiz

On transfer deadline day in August 2011, we had a £12,000,000 bid accepted for Costa Rican international Bryan Ruiz only for Cheick Tiote's former Twente teammate to turn us down and join Fulham for £10,600,000. He admitted that he had a good feeling about the Cottagers but he only scored eight goals in sixty-eight games and was sent out on loan to PSV Eindhoven in January 2014 before spending his final year in West London in the Championship after Fulham were relegated.

Bryan Ruiz

Charles N'Zogbia

Charles N'Zogbia was probably our 2009 equivalent of Moussa Sissoko, a French attacker who showed promise early on in his Magpies career but then publicly came out and said he wanted to leave for a higher level and went on strike just before leaving. Despite this, we made an unsuccessful bid for the Frenchman on January deadline day 2011. He eventually signed for Aston Villa that summer and flopped at Villa Park in a five year spell, which included arguments with fans on Twitter during their hideous 2015-16 season.

Charles N'Zogbia

Eliaquim Mangala

As the clock ticked down on the January 2018 transfer window, Sky bizarrely claimed that we'd made a loan enquiry about Manchester City centre-back Eliaquim Mangala despite having good depth in that position with Jamaal Lascelles, Florian Lejeune, Chancel Mbemba and Ciaran Clark. He went to Everton and having been a flop in Manchester, you could tell less than halfway through his debut against Arsenal three days later that we were definitely right not to sign him and that Sam Allardyce had done more to help us that week than he did in his seven months as our manager. He missed the rest of the season after being forced off against Crystal Palace a week later but still had played enough games for Pep Guardiola's side to earn a league winner's medal, he went on loan to Valencia before signing for the Spanish side permanently a year later.

Eliaquim Mangala

Jérémie Aliadière

Before we signed Shefki Kuqi in February 2011, we were in talks to sign to Frenchman Jérémie Aliadière as Andy Carroll's short term replacement despite him having only scored eight goals in ninety-three Premier League games and having been released by mid-table Championship outfit Middlesbrough seven months earlier. Despite him faring better in three years at Lorient in Ligue 1, he'd already proven that he couldn't hack it in the Premier League.

Jérémie Aliadière

Kléberson

Kléberson's performances for Atlético Paranaense saw him called up to Brazil's 2002 World Cup squad, where his tackle on Paul Scholes led to Rivaldo's equaliser against England in the quarter-finals before he got an assist as they beat Germany 2-0 in the final. It also attracted us, Celtic, Barcelona and Leeds United, we didn't sign him and he joined Manchester United on the same day as Cristiano Ronaldo but an injury in his second game for the Red Devils ruined his career there as he only made twenty appearances in two years before joining Beşiktaş and his career's just gone downhill from there.

Colin Kazim-Richards

Despite having been part of the Turkey side that reached the Euro 2008 semi-finals, Colin Kazim-Richards is a prime example of why we were right not to give Alan Pardew full control on transfers as he reportedly suggested the signing of the "Coca-Cola kid" during the summer of 2012 despite having only scored twice for Galatasaray in Turkey the previous season. As much as we needed more bodies in with the extra pressure of European football that season, his poor stats on loan at Olympiacos and Blackburn Rovers in the 2012-13 season as well everyone else he's played for since (despite the leagues being nowhere near the level of the Premier League) suggested that we were better off not signing him. That included one goal in eleven league games for Celtic in 2015-16 despite their dominance of the Scottish Premiership.

Colin Kazim-Richards

Nicolai Jørgensen

We desperately needed a striker in January 2018 and we were in talks to sign Feyenoord's Nicolai Jørgensen. We bid £15,000,000 for him but refused to match their asking price of £20,000,000. We signed an injured Islam Slimani on loan instead and I thought he was the better option and to be fair, I'd say Dwight Gayle raised his game after his arrival but the Algerian only played four league games after injury meant he couldn't make his debut for two weeks and he picked up a suspension due to violent conduct against West Bromwich Albion. Whilst I feel that Jørgensen would've given us a big lift considering that he was our record signing and playing under Rafael Benítez could well have led to him becoming a top player for us, a disappointing World Cup showing that summer, including missing a penalty as Denmark lost a shoot-out to Croatia (had they won, England would've probably made the final), convinced many Toon fans that we had dodged a bullet. Since that summer, he's only scored twelve goals in thirty-seven league goals, is that the type of record for a striker that would suggest that they're Premier League quality?

Nicolai Jørgensen

Saido Berahino

In August 2015, Tottenham Hotspur were interested in a move for Saido Berahino but after West Bromwich Albion refused to accept any bids, despite Tony Pulis leaving out in favour of a certain Salomón Rondón, who was already signed as his replacement, the twenty-two year old publicly claimed that he wouldn't play for West Brom again. Five months later, we were on the look-out for a striker in our battle to stay up with summer signing Aleksandar Mitrović's lack of experience leading to him missing too many chances for him to be our main man and made a mouth-watering £21,000,000 bid for Berahino but the arrogance of the Baggies meant it was rejected and we signed Seydou Doumbia on loan instead and he only got three cameo appearances as we went down. Berahino only scored one more goal before his £12,000,000 move to Stoke City a year later but failed to score either that season or as they went down the following season and he was even banished to the U23 side by Paul Lambert. Even in the Championship, the Burundi international (yes, his attitude was that bad that he eventually gave up on being called up for England), only netted three goals and was arrested for drink-driving in February 2019, leading to his contract being terminated at the end of the season. He's since found his level in Belgium with Zulte Waregem.









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