Brazilian wunderkind Neymar came within a hair's breadth of moving to Stamford Bridge in 2010, with Chelsea confirmed by the player to have tabled a 'massive' bid to secure his services. Only 18 years old at the time, Neymar was already considered a huge name in Brazil and perhaps the biggest talent to come out of Santos' famed academy in over a generation. With Chelsea having been beaten to the punch by Manchester City in signing Robinho two years earlier, they were determined not to make the same mistake again and pushed hard to make sure the teenage Neymar would be their marquee signing for the season ahead. Neymar himself was ready to make the move, but convinced otherwise by national legend Pele, who believed the youngster was not yet ready to make the step up to European football and that his development would be better served by spending a few more years in Brazil. The teenager chose to take his idol's advice and was the star of his Santos for a further three years, scoring an astonishing 43 goals in the 2013 season. Chelsea continued to monitor his progress and are believed to have made a second bid after the player reiterated that his dream was to move to Europe. Instead, the player moved to Barcelona for what was initially believed to be a 57 million transfer fee, though an investigation into possible embezzlement by Barca president Sandro Rosell eventually suggested the real cost may have been up to 40 million higher.
28-year old English writer with a borderline obsessive passion for films, videogames, Chelsea FC, incomprehensible words and indefensible puns. Follow me on Twitter if you like infrequent outbursts of absolute drivel.
