Italy veteran Giorgio Chiellini could have played for Roy Keane at Sunderland at one stage in his career.
The centre-back, who helped the Azzurri to Euro 2020 triumph over England at Wembley on Sunday, went on to become a key member of the Juventus team that marched to domestic glory for nearly a decade.
Things could have gone differently had Chiellini signed for Sunderland, according to the club's chief scout at the time - Mick Brown.
He said, per the Daily Mirror: "It was a day like many others when I took a call from an agent who said, 'Would you be interested in Chiellini?'.
"I replied, 'Does a child like Christmas? Absolutely, we would, yes. But there's no chance he'll come here'.
"He said, 'Leave it with me', so I did. A couple of days later, he called me back and said, 'Chiellini is up for it'.
"So, I went and saw Roy Keane and left it with them. Subsequently, I asked the boss what was going on and he said, 'It's all but done'. You could have knocked me down with a feather.
"A fee was agreed with Juventus – £8million – and Chiellini's terms had been as well. We were all set to go.
"I thought, 'If we get this over the line, we have swum the Channel'.
"But somewhere in the negotiations in the hierarchy – it was nothing to do with Roy or me, Roy wanted Chiellini to come – it fell down over £200,000. Who wanted it or what it was for, I don't know.
"It was a real shame because I'd put my life on this kid turning out to be a cracker.
"Can you imagine what he would have been like? He would have been another Charlie Hurley for Sunderland."
