Maradona, Lampard and more: 10 star players Leeds United almost signed
da bet nacional： Leeds United have missed out on signing some brilliant players in recent years after Marcelo Bielsa led the Whites back to the Premier League in 2020.
da brdice： Those at Elland Road struck transfer gold on Raphinha, with the Brazilian winger starring in Yorkshire before sealing a big-money move to Barcelona in 2022.
However, Leeds could have signed icons Diego Maradona and Frank Lampard once upon a time, and more recently, plenty of other star names came close to joining the Whites.
10 star players Leeds United almost signed 10 Diego Maradona
A year on after Diego Maradona led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 saw Leeds make an ambitious move to sign the icon from Napoli.
A Division Two side at the time, Whites director Bill Fotherby was ready to spend a whopping £8m on Maradona and opened talks with the player’s agent. However, Leeds would eventually pull the plug and Maradona would remain with Napoli until 1991.
9 Frank Lampard
Following Rio Ferdinand’s move to Elland Road in 2000, Leeds looked to raid West Ham again a year later, this time for Frank Lampard.
The Whites were thought to be ready to pay £10m for the midfielder, but as we know, he’d instead join Chelsea.
Lampard has since gone on to become a rival of Leeds and was manager of Derby County during the famous ‘Spygate’ scandal during Bielsa’s time as Whites boss.
8 Erling Haaland
Striker Erling Haaland was born in Leeds and has openly admitted he is a Whites supporter, and those at Elland Road passed up on the chance to sign the Norwegian when he was at Molde.
Now a global superstar, Haaland was 17 at the time and Leeds were in the Championship when the failed transfer happened, with the forward instead signing for RB Salzburg.
7 Duncan Ferguson
Duncan Ferguson was a striker who would have loved the Elland Road atmosphere as a home player, and Leeds almost signed him in 1993.
Dundee United even accepted an offer worth £3.25m from the Whites, however, he would sign for Rangers instead before making a move to England with Everton 12 months later.
6 Josko Gvardiol
Manchester City signed Josko Gvardiol in 2023 for a world-record fee for a defender worth more than £77m. However, three years prior to his move to England, Gvardiol could have signed for Leeds following their promotion to the Premier League.
Leeds even agreed a fee with Dinamo Zagreb, but the Croatia international snubbed the Whites for RB Leipzig.
5 Rodrigo De Paul
During the summer of 2020, Leeds missed out on central midfielder Rodrigo De Paul as well as Gvardiol.
De Paul was a Udinese player at the time and would instead sign for Atletico Madrid, before helping Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar two years later.
4 Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Now a Paris Saint-Germain star and one of the best in Europe, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is another case of what could have been for Leeds under Bielsa.
Following their successful first season back in the Premier League, Bielsa wanted attacking additions, with Victor Orta and co targeting Kvaratskhelia from Russian club Rubin Kazan.
Instead, Leeds signed Dan James from Manchester United with Bielsa losing his job during the 2021/22 season.
3 Cody Gakpo
Leeds were desperate to sign Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven late in the summer transfer window in 2023, with Orta and co flying out to the Netherlands looking to bring the star attacker back to Yorkshire.
Gakpo even recalled the story of how he placed his fate in the hands of God the night before the transfer window slammed shut.
Gakpo scored a hat-trick for PSV that night in a 7-1 win over FC Volendam so remained with PSV, eventually moving to Liverpool six months later.
2 Viktor Gyokeres
Viktor Gyokeres signed for Arsenal in 2025, but years before his big-money move to the Emirates from Sporting CP, Orta nearly signed him for Leeds.
The Swedish striker was scoring for fun at Coventry City in the Championship, however, Leeds would instead break the bank in 2023 for Georginio Rutter from Hoffenheim.
Gyokeres’ stats for Coventry City and Sporting CP
Coventry City
Sporting CP
Games
116
102
Goals
43
97
Assists
17
28
1 Ollie Watkins
When Leeds were looking for a new striker in 2020 upon their return to the Premier League, they targeted Ollie Watkins who was starring for Brentford in the Championship.
Watkins admitted himself that the Whites were keen on him, however, Leeds instead decided to sign Spanish international Rodrigo to lead their line.
Rodrigo had his ups and downs at Elland Road, whereas Watkins would sign for Aston Villa and regularly hit double figures for goals in the Premier League.