Wolves legend Steve Bull has revealed how Doug Ellis wanted him to sign for Aston Villa.
Bull notched 250 league goals in 474 games to become hot property in the 1990s.
He played four times during Italia 90 and it was there Ellis made an informal approach.
"Maybe they just might have tempted me. It would have meant staying in the Midlands," Bull told the Birmingham Mail.
"I'd have been there within half-an-hour from where I lived but I never heard anything. Wolves must have done something to put them off, I don't know.
''I met Doug Ellis when he was at the World Cup in 1990. He said to me 'Steve we are going to come in for you one day'. I said 'okay, you have only got to come in mate' but he never did. I could never understand why.
''Villa were only up the road and they might have been the team that actually prised me away from Wolves. The four teams I know came in for me were Torino after the World Cup, Newcastle, Coventry and Celtic."