7 of the most outlandish football transfer links: Neymar to West Ham, Neuer to Brighton…

Manuel Neuer being linked with Brighton has got us thinking about the most outlandish transfer links we can remember.

As he approaches the end of his Bayern Munich contract, Neuer has bizarrely been mentioned as a possible target for Brighton. The rumour has done the rounds enough to draw a response from Fabrizio Romano, who says the German legend is not in talks.

But what have been the most outlandish transfer links involving apparent mismatches between the calibres of players and clubs?

With thousands of rumours every transfer window, there are plenty that just get dismissed as not believable. But, looking back, which really stand out – whether there was a genuine attempt behind them or not?

In the summer of 2010, West Ham welcomed Avram Grant as their new manager. And, if they’d had their way, they would have welcomed a new Brazilian star to their squad too.

A series of offers were submitted to Santos for Neymar , who was then 18 and just over a year into his professional career. However, the bids were all rejected.

West Ham went on to be relegated that season, while Neymar’s next club would be Barcelona in 2013.

The Catalan press claimed O’Shea was on Barcelona’s shortlist for the summer of 2010 as a versatile defensive option.

By that point, the Irishman had more than 300 appearances to his name for a successful Manchester United side, but it would have still been a big surprise to see him sign for Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.

A year later, he ended up at Sunderland instead.

The centre-forward position at Chelsea has been a tricky one to fill in recent years, with several big investments not paying off. What if they’d just signed Ashley Barnes instead?

Strangely, Chelsea were linked with Barnes in January 2018, when Antonio Conte was in charge. Their eclectic shortlist was also said to include Andy Carroll, Fernando Llorente, Peter Crouch and Edin Dzeko.

Barnes ultimately remained at Burnley until 2023 and returned for a second spell at Turf Moor in 2025.

After their promotion to the Premier League in 2019, Sheffield United were said to be in the market for a marquee signing and the German media tipped them as suitors for Franck Ribery.

The French winger had reached the end of his time with Bayern Munich and was available on a free transfer, but his wage package would have been substantial.

In the end, he joined Fiorentina instead, spending two years there and one with Salernitana before retiring.

Blackburn have plenty of tales to tell about players that could have joined them. Zinedine Zidane was rejected by the club’s owner in the 1990s because they had Tim Sherwood, while the Icelandic volcanic eruption scuppered Robert Lewandowski’s move to Ewood Park in 2010.

Then, in January 2011, Blackburn made an audacious attempt to sign Ronaldinho from AC Milan.

Then 30 years old, Ronaldinho had been one of the best players of his generation. A lucrative offer to join Blackburn was supposedly on the cards in an effort to tempt the former Barcelona star to the Premier League , but it never materialised.

There was once a time when it was impossible to imagine Messi playing for anyone other than Barcelona, but things could have been different had he taken a temporary route away early in his career.

Alex McLeish’s Rangers wanted to try their luck by asking for Messi on loan just as he was emerging into the Barcelona first team.

How did it all start? McLeish’s son playing Championship Manager. His advice over Messi’s potential was heeded, but Barcelona wouldn’t let him go.

Rangers were given a glimmer of hope of taking Andres Iniesta instead, but he too turned out to be off limits.

Following their takeover by the Pozzo family, Watford were linked with a plethora of Italian players. Indeed, many have gone on to join them over the years.

As for those who didn’t, there were ambitious links with Alessandro Del Piero and Filippo Inzaghi shortly after the takeover.

Del Piero was concluding his impressive spell with Juventus in 2012, but signed for Sydney FC instead.