Neil Warnock admits he rejected the chance to sign Chelsea great Didier Drogba for Sheffield United.

The Blades were in the Championship at the time, when Warnock claims one of his players, Laurent D'Jaffo, approached him on a tip to sign Drogba who started his career with French second tier team Le Mans in 1998, spending four years at the club.

Warnock claims that D'Jaffo, who was at the Blades between 2000 and 2002, pleaded with him to sign the Ivory Coast striker for just £100,000.

"I think every manager has one," Warnock told talkSPORT. "Usually it's a striker, with a manager. The main one early in my career, I had a French lad, Laurent D'Jaffo, he said to me 'Gaffer I've seen a player for you in second division in France, very good, £100,000'.

"I said '£100,000? That a lot for a second division French player. What's his name?' He said 'Drogba'.

"I said we cant pay £100,000 for a second division French player. You all know what happened to him in the end, Drogba. That was my biggest [missed opportunity] I don't think I could have had a bigger loss than that one."