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Sam Allardyce says he nearly signed Ballon d’Or winner for Newcastle
Newcastle United missed a number of great opportunities during the Mike Ashley era.
Indeed, the Magpies had numerous chances to seriously kick on in that period, but Ashley’s lack of ambition and investment seemed shackle the club.
Sam Allardyce was the first manager who had to deal with Ashley, and speaking on the Under the Cosh Podcast, Allardyce has now shared that he nearly made a blockbuster signing for the Magpies.
Indeed, according to Big Sam, he made a transfer plan with Freddy Shepherd to sign Luka Modric for £12m, but that deal was kyboshed once Mike Ashley arrived at the club.
Sam Allardyce almost signed Luka Modric for Newcastle
Allardyce shared how he almost signed Modric.
“This was going to be a big challenge. We went through the whole package of who we were going to get rid of and who we were going to bring in, but unfortunately the club got bought under Freddy’s nose and Mike came in,” Allardyce said.
“I needed six players because we got rid of the ones we talked about with Freddy, and then we were going to buy the ones we felt. We had Modric on our list, Luka Modric, he was £12m or something like that, but the budget didn’t happen.”
Luka Modric would’ve been incredible
This may well be the biggest transfer near miss in Newcastle’s history.
Of course, Newcastle have missed out on some brilliant players over the years, including Marc Guehi this summer, but to lose out on an eventual Ballon d’Or winner is so painful.
Modric went on to become one of the very best players in the world. He went on to win six Champions League titles with Real Madrid, and he would’ve transformed the Newcastle team at that time.
Who knows what the Allardyce-era at Newcastle would’ve looked like if Mike Ashley didn’t buy the club.