Newcastle United's attempt to sign three World Cup stars as Toon boss breaks golden ruleThey say never sign a player off the back of a World Cup - but that was never going to stop Kevin Keegan.
Keegan's Scouting Mission
Kevin Keegan once used a stint as an ITV pundit as a USA scouting mission to sign some popular stars - and also just missed out on one of the biggest names in European football. Back then, Keegan was so impressed with Philippe Albert that he paid £2.7m to bring him from Anderlecht after watching him at the World Cup in the States.
Keegan also noticed right-back Marc Hottiger during the tournament and made arrangements to sign the defender and landed a £525,000 deal for the star to bring him in from Sion. The full-back played under future England boss Roy Hodgson back then as the Swiss shocked the football world and emerged out of Group A by beating a Gheorge Hagi-inspired Romania side 4-1 and taking a point off their US hosts.
Hottiger's Instant Impact
On his Toon debut in the Ibrox Tournament it was Hottiger's penalty which beat Man United in Glasgow on the night that Eric Cantona's chip ended up in the stands to make the Swiss ace an instant hero and earn him a slot on the front page of that weekend's Pink! "I loved my time at Newcastle," he said. "It was a special club and I still think about them now."
Albert's Cult Hero Status
It was Albert who became the cult hero on Tyneside, however. Picking up the tale of Keegan signing him off the back of the World Cup in 1994, the Belgian recounted the couple of games that ended up changing his life. Albert said: "I was lucky enough to play very well in '94 in the States. Kevin was working as a pundit for the ITV, and he watched two of my games. One was against Holland that we won 1-0 and I scored the goal. And in the other we lost 3-2 against Germany but I scored again. I played very well in those two games.
"A few weeks later he made contact with my Belgian club Anderlecht and I went over there and we talked for about 15 minutes; we barely talked about money. I wanted to move to work with him because when I was a young kid and he was a player at Liverpool I was one of his fans. I'd always wanted to work under him."
Missed Opportunity for Leonardo
Keegan was close to what would have been a sensational hat-trick after the US World Cup. Indeed, the Toon boss also wanted Brazilian left-footer Leonardo at St James' Park. It was Independence Day in America three decades ago that Keegan decided he wanted the Brazilian ace. The drama unfolded at the Stanford Stadium in front of 84,147 fans, and the Americans had tournament favourites Brazil rattled. As the US threatened the Brazilian goal in the heat, tempers began to flare.
When Leonardo's forearm smash on Tab Ramos the whole world knew it was one of the worst fouls ever seen. But not in the eyes of the man who wanted to bring him to Newcastle United. In his ITV commentary with Alan Parrry, Keegan said: "I didn't think he had done that much wrong. He was being held - he was being fouled first." The Brazilian later went to the hospital to apologise and said: "It wasn't intentional. He was holding my arm, and my natural reaction was to shake him off. I know it looked bad on TV, but it wasn't intentional."
Keegan wasn't put off, but the deal never materialised. Instead, Leonardo went on to have a fine career with Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan after winning the World Cup with Brazil in 1994. Two out of three wasn't bad for Keegan, however.
Modern Approach
Newcastle are unlikely to follow his lead this summer, however. Targets have already been identified long in advance of the tournament and United are hoping to tie up deals for the likes of Victor Munoz before he makes a splash at the World Cup and alerts other clubs.
