10 Failed Transfers That Would Have Changed English Football

2. Johann Cruyff To Leicester City

These days Leicester City are top of the Premier League, mounting an improbable title challenge that can only mean we must all exist as bit-part characters in a dream Claudio Ranieri is having. The neutral's favourites play a scintillating brand of direct, counter attacking football in a squad filled with lower league finds, bargain signings and the cast offs from bigger clubs. It wasn't always going so well for Leicester, though. Back in 1981 they were a newly promoted side struggling to avoid relegation from the old First Division. Manager Jock Wallace knew that his youthful side needed an injection of experience, a leader on the pitch to guide them through the choppy waters of a relegation battle. Wallace identified that man as Dutch legend Johann Cruyff, then 33. The ex-Barcelona and Ajax player was a free agent after spells in the NASL with Los Angeles Aztecs and Washington Diplomats. Plenty of clubs looked at Cruyff but his outspoken nature and huge wage demands meant many potential suitors - such as Arsenal and Hamburg - decided the ageing superstar was not worth the risk. That meant that Wallace's Leicester were able to step in and take a punt, offering a £4,000 per match deal. Just when they thought the deal was sealed, Wallace was dismayed to see that Cruyff had decided to sign for Spanish second division outfit Levante instead. With them Cruyff would be getting fixed wages, plus additional bonuses based around gate receipt increases and promotion. Without Cruyff, Wallace's Leicester were relegated, while the man himself had a disastrous time with Levante, making only 10 appearances in an injury-hit spell before returning to Ajax in the same year. The master of Total Football might not have saved Leicester from the drop single-handedly, but how great would it have been to see him strutting his stuff at Filbert Street?