Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay failed with a late bid for Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy who eventually moved to Liverpool. Mackay admitted he had spoken to his former Norwich team-mate leading up to the transfer deadline.
"He's someone I've spoken to three or four times since I've taken the job, in a friendly capacity," said Mackay.
"Really until Manchester City decided what they were going to do, I think there was nothing I could have done.
"Certainly we looked at something and put a proposition when we found out it was an opportunity that he'd be leaving.
"But at the end of the day you're talking about Liverpool, which is a huge club.
"But our chairman [Dato Chan Tien Ghee] really showed ambition yesterday [Wednesday] and we'd made tentative calls, but by that point it was so far down the road with Liverpool."
