Leicester City will kick themselves over the years for missing out on several world-beating players.
PSG star Ousmane Dembele once rejected Leicester in 2016 before sealing a mega-money £135 million move to Barcelona just a year later.
The Foxes have also painfully missed out on signing players as youngsters, with Leicester notably rejecting Ben White after a trial at the King Power Stadium.
White is now an established Premier League defender at Arsenal after joining the Gunners for £50 million from Brighton in 2021.
To add further salt to the wounds, Leicester also released Ivan Toney at the age of 16, and he came back to haunt them by becoming a quality goal machine in the top flight.
Releasing White and Toney as teenagers was a choice, whereas Leicester’s failed move for a Real Madrid icon in 2010 wasn’t.
Sven-Goran Eriksson tried to sign David Beckham for Leicester City in 2010
David Beckham is arguably the most globally recognisable footballer of all time. Rising to prominence as a superstar at Manchester United, he dominated down the right wing for over a decade in the first team while winning six Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy.
Those were just two of the many pieces of silverware Beckham scooped at Man United before sealing a £25 million transfer to Real Madrid in 2003.
The 115-cap England international spent four seasons in Madrid, amassing 159 appearances and 71 goal involvements. He then went on to play for LA Galaxy and AC Milan before wrapping up his career at PSG in 2013.
Remarkably, Leicester almost signed one of the most famous sportsmen ever in 2010 when Sven-Goran Eriksson was in charge.
According to The Guardian, the Swedish manager made an audacious attempt to lure the Englishman to the King Power Stadium, confirming he made an initial enquiry about Beckham but was given short shrift by his representatives.
Beckham, who was playing for LA Galaxy at the time, was one of several big-name players the Foxes were linked with following their takeover, including Robbie Keane and Roque Santa Cruz.
What Eriksson said about the failed Beckham transfer
Under their new ownership in 2010, Leicester were ambitious about their transfers but Eriksson accepted that his side needed to be in the Premier League for them to land the players he’d been targeting.
“The owners want a big signing. It is interesting the players that have been mentioned. I made phone calls to more or less all of them,” Eriksson said via The Guardian.
“Most of them, they don’t really want to come to our league. If we get to the Premier League it will be much easier to get these players. But we are trying and the owners are happy to back me.
“If you talk about Beckham, of course I should take Beckham but I don’t think he will go anywhere. I spoke to his agent to see if there was a small chance, but he said it was not possible.”
Evidently, dropping into the Championship was never an option for Beckham, as Leicester finished 11th in the 2010/11 season.