Former Manchester City boss Brian Horton has spoken of almost signing Portuguese great Luis Figo.

Horton revealed they made their move before Figo signed for Barcelona.

He recalled to the Daily Mail: "The big one we talked about was Luis Figo from Sporting Lisbon. Chris Sutton, too. I'm saying defenders but it feels like all attackers!

"Malcolm Allison told me about Figo. He came to games and Franny looked after him great. Malcolm loved a glass of champagne and so do I. David Pleat told me that win or lose, always go and speak to your directors. Don't just go up if you win.

"We'd won this game, gone up for a glass with Malcolm. He asked if I'd seen the boy Luis Figo. Portugal were playing in Northern Ireland so me and Tony Book went. Wow, sensational.

"I told Franny to do whatever he could but it was just too rich. There were lots of agents. We met them but we just couldn't do it."