​Striker Gift Orban was regarded as one of the hottest young talents when he was linked with a move to Tottenham in 2023 [Getty Images]Fans always get excited when the transfer window comes around.Your team is linked with a big-name signing and you start to dream they could be the ones to lead your club to glory.Tottenham fans might have felt this way a few years ago when they were strongly linked with a young, prolific striker from Nigeria by the name of Gift Orban.They had every reason, on paper at least, to be excited.In the summer of 2023, Orban, then 21, was regarded as one of the hottest prospects in the game.After scoring 16 goals in 22 games for Norwegian top-flight side Stabaek, he moved to Belgian side Gent and continued his impressive goalscoring record, netting 20 times in 22 matches.In a wild four-day period in March 2023, he scored seven goals in two matches. He got four in a 6–2 away league win over Zulte Waregem, becoming the first Gent player with a four-goal haul in one game in the 21st Century.He then followed up with a quick-fire hat-trick in a 4–1 away victory over Istanbul Basaksehir in the Conference League last 16. That hat-trick was completed within three minutes and 25 seconds, at the time a record in Uefa club competitions.Gift Orban was on loan at Verona last season and has now moved on another loan deal, this time to Turkish club Amedspor [Getty Images]With England captain Harry Kane set to join Bayern Munich later that summer, Tottenham needed a striker. Orban was even touted in the BBC Gossip Column as the club’s Kane replacement. The headline of a follow-up story read: “Could Orban be a global star?”However, Spurs, with new boss Ange Postecoglou recently appointed, stalled at the £25m fee and the move collapsed.In the three years since, Orban has had four clubs, most recently joining newly-promoted Turkish top-flight side Amedspor on loan last week.He has struggled to regain his form with only three goals for Gent in 2023-24, three for French side Lyon and four for Bundesliga outfit Hoffenheim, although he scored seven times in Serie A on loan at Verona last season.While his career is yet to reach the heights it once promised, other missed transfer targets have had rather different outcomes…Kaka to Manchester CityKaka collected the Ballon d’Or trophy for being the best player in the world in December 2007 [Getty Images]In January 2009, newly-rich Manchester City were looking to spend a bit of their bulging bank balance to sign Brazilian playmaker Kaka.AC Milan and Kaka’s heads were turned by City’s staggering £108m offer, which would have been more than double the world record transfer at the time. One City fan was so sure the deal would be done that he apparently got the playmaker’s name tattooed on his chest.However, in the end, the 2007 Ballon d’Or winner decided the timing wasn’t right and turned down the chance to move to Manchester.Kaka did make a world-record move later in 2009, joining Real Madrid fo