10 Players Who Turned Down Big Moves To Join Newcastle

4. Philippe Albert - Juventus

Having attracted significant attention on the back of an impressive World Cup campaign with Belgium, imposing defender Philippe Albert was big business in 1994, but it was Newcastle and Kevin Keegan who convinced the classy player to come and play a key role in the Entertainers team. Despite some terrible injuries that put him out for a good chunk of his time on Tyneside the player is a bona-fide cult hero, thanks to some imperious defensive displays and some goals that would embarrass some of the most gifted attacking players in the world. Nobody who was there - or indeed who has seen the footage back years later - will forget the delicious arc and drop of his chip over a comically helpless Peter Schmeichel to crown the 5-0, and that wasn't even his best goal. Unsurprisingly given some of the performances that he put in for Newcastle, it emerged later that Italian giants Juventus and Fiorentina had tried to sign him, but he had rejected them as he didn't like to be too hot or to play on Sundays, and that Newcastle were his first choice because he had been a fan of Kevin Keegan at Liverpool as a child.