Manchester City have made some remarkable transfers in the last 10 years, with star names like Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling all beating a path to the Etihad Stadium.
There have also been some stars who we know City came close to landing, such as Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez and Jorginho.
But every now and then, a possible signing escapes the media radar – and comes to light years later.
Now, the publication of a new book whose authors were given unprecedented access to the Blues last season has thrown up some surprising names that were very much in City’s sights.
Perhaps the oddest of the lot was the fact that they considered a move for Radamel Falcao, AFTER his disastrous loan season at Manchester United.
Falcao had cost the Reds a £6million loan fee when he went to Old Trafford on a temporary basis in 2014, with a view to a £43million permanent move.
He had scored 13 goals in 22 games for Monaco and 21 in 53 for Colombia, so had a good goalscoring pedigree.
But he flopped badly at United, hitting the net just four times in 29 appearances before heading back to Monaco in the summer of 2015, the permanent transfer long since discarded.
But that summer City were selling striker Alvaro Negredo to Valencia and needed a replacement – and Falcao was one of their options.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak was especially keen, and thought it made sound financial sense, his value having dropped after his poor time at United.
In the end, City did not sign a striker that summer – it would be 18 months before they replaced Negredo, with £27million capture Gabriel Jesus.
Another name who was in the frame for City was Chelsea star Willian, who was a teammate of Fernandinho at Shakhtar Donetsk back in 2012.
City targeted both Brazilians and the book reveals that Txiki Begiristain flew to Ukraine to meet with Willian, following it up with two more meetings in Sao Paulo.
The transfer was a real possibility until ultra-wealthy Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala stepped in, and made a bid of around £30million, more than City were willing to pay.
They dropped their interest, Willian went to Anzhi and then signed for Chelsea six months later.
City had Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno in their sights as they sought a new goalkeeper in the summer of 2017.
The Blues narrowed it down to the Bayer Leverkusen star and Ederson.
Begiristain says, in the book, “They both fitted the bill. One was more expensive to buy, the other required a higher salary. I left it up to the coaches to choose.
City opted for Ederson and have not regretted it, pinning him down on an unprecedented seven-year contract at the end of his first season.
- “Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam” by Pol Ballus and Lu Martin (Backpage Press) is out now, priced £14.99
