12 Ridiculous Sunderland Transfer Rumours That Never Happened

1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Of all the players on this list, not only is Zlatan Ibrahimovic the greatest, he's also the most underrated (yes, UNDERrated), and his transfer was actually more substantiated than any other. He truly was the one that got away. Zlatan could easily have been Sunderland-bound. Twice. Again, as Quinn began to wind down, the most important replacement search in Sunderland's history got underway. Peter Reid was left with two options. Big-name Rangers goalscorer Tore Andre Flo, and 20-year-old Ajax prodigy Zlatan Ibrahimovic. There were rumours that Sunderland tried for him after leaving Malmo, and years later Peter Reid himself totally confirmed that the Black Cats had tabled a bids for the Swedish talisman. He said: "When he was at Ajax, I went to Amsterdam and offered £7 million for him. It was the second time I had tried to take him to Sunderland - we were also in for him when he was at Malmo. Imagine what a signing he would have been, everywhere he goes his team wins the league." Ibrahimovic's representatives gave no immediate comment at the time of the bids, though Zlatan himself was quoted as saying: "At the moment I am leaning in the direction of staying at Ajax, but you never know what will happen." He actually acknowledged the bid...... Just pause for a second and imagine a strikeforce of zero-time European Golden Boot winner Zlatan Ibrahimovic and one-time European Golden Boot winner Kevin Phillips? That is quite literally the greatest thought imaginable for fans in red and white. Crushingly, it's time to fall back into reality. Zlatan stayed with Ajax for a while longer before dominating league-after-league with Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan and now PSG. Sunderland signed Tore Andre Flo and broke the lowest ever Premier League points tally. Twice. Damn you, reality.