10 Players You Didn't Know Nearly Signed For AC Milan

5. Samuel Eto€™o

Samuel Eto€™o, one of the most lethal strikers that has graced the continent over the last 20 years, has been on the radar of AC Milan for years. Identified as the club€™s chief target by vice-president Adriano Galliani in 2007, they had made no secret of their desire to land the three-times African Footballer of the Year, claiming a move would be on providing €˜economic resources are there on our part, and Barcelona say he is available€™. They would, however, be met with a brick wall by the Catalonian hierarchy with one day of issuing the statement.

''Eto۪o is staying at Barcelona, as well as Ronaldinho, neither is for sale.۪۪ - Adriano Galliani, July 2007.

Their interest would not end there, however, as it was revived the next summer. However, following a similar failure to land him, the vice-president would begin to grow weary.

''If I could have signed Eto€™o, I would have. We tried hard to do so. In the summer, I actually tested them, but Laporta wanted £40 million, which was really too much.€™€™ - Adriano Galliani, November 2008.

The next summer the club believed in €˜third time lucky€™ as they signalled their interest in the Barcelona front-man once again, having been shut out in their attempts to sign Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Luis Fabiano.

''Eto۪o? We cannot deny our interest. Eto۪o is an important player who wants to be paid a lot of money. We need to balance the books, because we are a company.۪۪ - Adriano Galliani, July 2009.

Eto€™o did end up at the San Siro eventually, but it was in the shirt of their cross-city rivals, Inter Milan, as the ultimate dagger through the heart. After all the tireless and dogged hard yards that they had put in to secure the Cameroonian for three summers in a row, he would eventually turn out in the dreaded blue and black strip at their stadium - and win an unprecedented treble.