Man Utd, Trump, Abramovich: Football's craziest takeovers that didn't happen

Roman Abramovich’s 2003 takeover of Chelsea proved a watershed moment in the history of the west London club.

With the backing of the Russian billionaire’s vast wealth, the Blues went on to achieve both domestic and European glory on multiple occasions doing his near 18-year reign at Stamford Bridge.

According to the Daily Mail, though, things might have been very different indeed had Abramovich not been ‘warned off’ buying another top-flight side.

Initially, when searching for a Premier League club to purchase, Abramovich was actually said to be interested in buying Arsenal.

As part of research for their book ‘The Club’, former Wall Street Journal writers Jonathan Clegg and Joshua Robinson interviewed a number of former Premier League executives.

It was during one of those interviews that it was revealed that Abramovich had mistakenly been told that the Gunners were ‘categorically not for sale’ by staff from Swiss bank UBS.

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In truth, Arsenal might well have been available (for the right price) but, having been discouraged, Abramovich took his interest elsewhere.

He would eventually purchase Chelsea for £140 million a short time later.

Of course, had Abramovich taken over at the Emirates rather than Stamford Bridge, English football history would likely have been forever altered.

Down the years, there have been several other rumoured takeovers that might have had that same effect if they had been completed – and we’ve decided to take a look back at them below.

Some of these were very much serious enquires, others ultimately turned out to be little more than speculation.

Back at the turn of the century, there was concern that Premier League clubs