5 Famous players who you didn't know rejected a move to the Premier League

#1 Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho won the Ballon d'Or with Barcelona.

Ronaldinho had become a sensation after helping secure the record fifth World Cup title for Brazil in 2002. At that time he was playing for Paris St-Germain and it was just a matter of time before he would move onto a bigger stage.

And he found himself on top of Sir Alex Ferguson's wanted list in 2003, when Beckham left Old Trafford. The deal was in the final stages, with the Paris based club having accepted the £30 million bid for the Brazilian.

In a recent interview with FourFourTwo, he accepted that he almost became a Manchester United player, before Barcelona quickly swooped in to persuaded him to move to Spain. This is what he said about the transfer deal in the interview:

"It almost happened. It was a matter of 48 hours but Sandro Rosell had told me way before I got the offer: "If I become Barca president, will you come?" I said yes"

"It was only a matter of details with United when Rosell called to say he was going to win the elections there. And I had promised to him that I'd play for Barca. It was a quick negotiation."

And rejecting a move to Premier League would turn out to be a great decision as he would go on to win the Champions League, Ballon d'Or and FIFA Best Player award twice with the Blaugrana.