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

#2 Luis Figo

Luis Figo of Barcelona leaves Guti of Real Madrid in his wake

Luis Figo, a player who probably made the most controversial transfer move in history was highly regarded by former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

He won the Ballon d'Or in 2000 with Real Madrid, but it was his performances with bitter rivals Barcelona in the previous season that earned him the accolade.

In his book The Boss: The Many Sides of Alex Ferguson Michael Carrick mentions that Ferguson seriously pursued the Portuguese, met with him in secret and was even willing to pay £37 million to Barcelona for securing his services.

But the audacious transfer deal never materialized, with the legendary manager blaming his club's financial fragility as the main reason for him missing out on the player in 2000.

The Irish Times quoted him saying:

"The only way Manchester United can improve the team is by buying the Zidanes and Figos of this world, in which case it is out of our financial reach."

Interestingly, 5 years later when his contract with Los Blancos was about to expire, he was again heavily linked with a move to Premier League, this time Liverpool were the interested party.

But his huge wage demands meant that the winger never got to show his skills in England.

He even regrets that he never played with Anfield legend, Steven Gerrard. Liverpool Echo quoted him saying:

“It's a pity because everyone wants to play with the best players and Gerrard has shown in his career that he was one of the best football players in his position."