Former England international Jermaine Jenas has now admitted that he slightly regrets his decision not to join Aston Villa sooner.
Jenas, who did end up joining Aston Villa on loan in the 2011/12 season, played for the club on just three occasions.
The majority of Jenas’ career was spent at both Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.
But when speaking on ‘That Peter Crouch Podcast’ Jenas has now shared that he had the opportunity to join Aston Villa permanently a while before he joined on loan.
Martin O’Neil was the Villa manager at the time, and Jenas said that he had been asking him to come to the club for years.
And although Jenas thought it was best for his career to veto a move to Villa in that moment, he’s now admitted that he does have some regrets.
Jermaine Jenas says he now regrets his decision not to join Aston Villa permanently
Speaking on the podcast, Jenas said that he absolutely loved his time at Villa when he did eventually arrive.
He said: “Martin O’Neill was trying to get me to go to Villa for years to be fair.
“John Robertson used to drink in the same pub as my mum and he was always saying he wanted me to come to Villa.
“But at that particular time you lot were battling it out with Tottenham for Champions League and I was looking at it going I think we have a better chance.
“And there is probably a minor little regret in that about not making that move. Because when I arrived at Villa I was like wow this club is amazing. It was a special feeling.
“There is a big difference between London clubs and those smaller cities, Birmingham is a big city, but when you are at Villa and Newcastle that’s all that is going off on a Saturday and you feel that love.
“I got there and thought this is amazing.”
What could have been
Of course, given how accomplished Jenas was at the time, a player who achieved 21 England caps, he could have been a real success at Villa.
And although it’s nice to reminisce about such stories, everyone of a Villa persuasion right now will be pretty focused on the crucial tie on the horizon this weekend.
Jenas will watch two of his former clubs, Villa and Tottenham, square off in the race for fourth and he’ll surely be hoping neither will come away from the game with any regrets.
That being said, Chris Sutton has now shared his prediction on who will end up finishing fourth.
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