8 Players You Didn't Know Newcastle United Almost Signed

5. Luis Figo

Let the thought of Luis Figo, clad in a black and white shirt caressing a ball around St James' Park, just sink in for a moment. Beguiling, right? Well it could have been a reality had Graeme Souness had his way.

It was 2005 and Figo, 32 at the time, was a free agent following the expiration of his contract at Real Madrid where he'd six highly successful seasons and was keen on ending his illustrious career in England. Talks even took place with the Portugal legend over a possible free transfer to St James' Park and it appeared only a formality that the deal would go through, the only stumbling block being his £90,000-a-week wage demands - worth it for a year of Figo-licious wanderlust, you'd think.

Well not to Newcastle. Figo subsequently joined Inter, winning the Serie A title in each of his four seasons at the San Siro, before bowing out of the game in 2009. Sidenote: there appears to be a disconcerting trend of Newcastle losing out on players to Italian clubs. That's three now..