I wanted to sign future Ballon d'Or winner at West Ham but transfer fee was too much – then he won Champions League and signed for Chelsea
07/17/2024 07:29 AM
Harry Redknapp has managed some top talents in his career – but he was denied coaching one of the biggest.
Having managed Tottenham, Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth during his career, Redknapp has coached elite stars such as Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Rio Ferdinand, Paolo Di Canio and Sol Campbell – though he did hold a certain soft spot for Niko Kranjcar.
But while in charge of West Ham, a certain young striker came through the doors that would leave Redknapp stunned.
Shevchenko, just a teenager at the time, was just starting out his career in 1994 while with Dynamo Kyiv and was given a chance for the Hammers to impress.
After scoring twice, Redknapp was keen on signing the Ukrainian – but could not justify such a large fee.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the legendary English manager was asked how close he was to signing Shevchenko for West Ham in 1994.
He replied: “What happened, me and Frank Lampard senior, who was my assistant at the time.
“He knew a couple of lads, he was a Canning Town boy, we got a phone call from a couple of lads.
“They were proper chaps around the East End, they were doing lots of business in Russia and in Ukraine.
“And they said, ‘look we can get any players’ – there were no foreign players here – ‘the best players to have a look at’.
“So they sent two players over and we fixed up a game with Barnet reserves. Shevchenko got two goals and we liked him but he was about £1million.
“I remember talking to Frank after and saying, ‘That is too much money’. He was only about 17 or 18.
“We didn’t take him but they did ring me a few years later, them guys – ‘Is that Harry the Judge?’
“They used to ring me up and give me some stick for not taking him!”
And for good reason, as well, ‘Arry. Shevchenko would only go on to become one of the best strikers of his generation.
AC Milan eventually took a punt at the Ukrainian in 1999, paying Dynamo Kyiv a whopping £21.5m on the striker – a bit more than the £1m that West Ham initially mulled over five years before.
And it was money well spent by the Italian outfit, where he scored 29 times in his debut campaign and a total of 173 times in 296 appearances over seven years.
His goals led AC Milan to glory in the Champions League in 2003 before leading them to Serie A success the following year, winning the Ballon d’Or in the process.
Perhaps the best compliment would be the fact that Shevchenko would still be head and shoulders above some of the biggest legends in football.
While he could have called Marco Boogers and Iain Dowie teammates, he ended up playing alongside Paolo Maldini, Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo among many other talented stars.
And as he was winning the Champions League, West Ham suffered relegation from the Premier League.
However, maybe the wise Redknapp had foresight beyond his years as Shevchenko did eventually end up in England when Chelsea broke the English transfer record to sign him in 2006 for £30.8m.
Heralded as a ground-breaking move for the Blues at the time, Shevchenko never truly settled in London and struggled for goals, netting just nine times in the Premier League over two seasons.
It led to the once-great forward being deemed surplus to requirements in 2008 by then-manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, eventually returning to AC Milan on loan after just two years at Stamford Bridge before completing a permanent move back to Dynamo Kyiv the following summer.
So maybe Harry had it right all along.
