Troy Deeney claims he could have played for Aston Villa earlier in his career, but wasn't willing to meet a key condition of the deal.
The former Birmingham City striker came close to leaving Watford in 2013, with Villa and Scottish giants Cetlic both eyeing potential moves at the time. But a move to Villa never materialised, partly due to Deeney's strong allegiance to cross-city rivals Blues.
When asked on talkSPORT about if he'd have ever pulled on a Villa shirt, the 35-year-old revealed: "I had an opportunity to, yeah. My friends let me know it wouldn't be a good idea, and secondly they wanted me to remove my Birmingham City tattoo as well.
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"The club [Villa wanted me to], that was part of the conversation. But they've gone onto bigger and better things and so have I."
Deeney added: "No I wouldn't have [had it removed], that's why it didn't get too far. My best friend is Birmingham City die-hard, my whole family are Birmingham City apart from my brother who weirdly decided to go against the grain.
"It would have been a difficult place to live and see the family if I was playing for Aston Villa for a few months. I'm sure they would have got over it afterwards."
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