10 Exceptional Players Newcastle United Should Never Have Turned Down
8. Zinedine Zidane
No definitive list of transfer foul ups in football history would be complete without the ridiculous decision by Newcastle in 1996 - just after they turned down Sami Hyypia - to pass on the stellar talent of Zinedne Zidane before he moved on to Juventus and Real Madrid. In 1996, he wanted to leave Bordeaux - an opportunity the modern Newcastle transfer team would have gobbled up no doubt - and instructed his agents to find a new team to showcase his skills. Barry Silkman - acting on his behalf - approached Newcastle, and received what can only be described as a numb-headed assessment of the player:
I offered him to Newcastle at the beginning of the 1996 season for £1.2m. And they watched him and said that he wasnt good enough to play in the First Division, which is the Championship now. Three months later he went to Juventus for £1.2m and two years later he went for £48m. So I think the people at Newcastle got it slightly wrong.
And the understatement award of all time goes to Mr Silkman. Newcastle passed on the player, and then presumably spent the next few years anxiously punching themselves in the face every time he appeared on TV.
