5 Ballon d'Or winners who almost joined the Premier League

#2 Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane could have joined Premier League as a 23-year old.

Zinedine Zidane is one of the few players in the world who do not need an introduction.

Regarded by many as one of the best midfielders of all time, he went on to win everything there is to claim at the club level, for his country and as an individual as well.

Like him, the famous incident involving 1994-95 Premier League champions Blackburn Rovers letting the chance to snap up this budding star slip through their hands is also very well known.

After their title-winning season in 1995, Rovers coach Kenny Dalglish had his eyes set on the Zidane and the player even visited the club's training grounds on the advice of his agent.

But, all hopes of this future Ballon d'Or winner playing in the league were quashed by the club's influential owner Jack Walker, who famously said:

“Why would we want Zidane? We’ve got Tim Sherwood”.