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In our ‘Remember When’ series we look back through the archives for stories from Aston Villa’s past.

Here we recall how close, and yet how far, Villa were away from signing Juninho in January 1999.

The context

It was late January in 1999.

Villa were top of the Premier League table after a remarkable first half of the season.

John Gregory, midway through his first full season in charge, wanted to build from a position of power to set Villa up for the title race.

His team included the likes of Gareth Southgate, Ian Taylor, Gareth Barry, Paul Merson and Dion Dublin, but he wanted to sprinkle some more superstar quality.

Having unsuccessfully courted Alan Shearer he turned his attentions to a certain twinkle-toed Brazilian playmaker.

The player

Juninho was with Atletico Madrid and had recently recovered from the broken leg whch cost him a place at World Cup 1998.

Gregory had no concerns about the physical condition of the player, who was 25 at the time and who had shone in England during a two-year spell at Middlesbrough in the mid 1990s.

“I had seen him play and, despite his injury problems of the previous year, still thought he had much to offer,” Gregory recalled in his autobiography The Boss.

“The lad’s character was impeccable, as the supporters at Middlesbrough would no doubt testify.

“He had been a wow in the Premiership and despite his frail physique, had shown he could cope. He was a wonderful player, no danger.

“And I felt we were a better side than Middlesbrough. Put him in with our boys, it seemed to me, and we would have an even better player. My excitement at the thought of pulling off this deal, the biggest in the club’s history, was limitless. This felt like a defining moment. This felt like the moment.”

The airport

It’s common practice for clubs to send representatives to collect players and their people ahead of a potential transfer - but Villa took it one stage further to get Juninho to a meeting at Villa Park.

Gregory and Juninho’s English-based advisor Gianni Paladini drove onto the tarmac at Birmingham Airport to meet Juninho and his father Osvaldo off the private jet they had chartered from Spain.

“I knew he wanted to sign,” said Gregory.

“Oh yes. The effort he had made getting there told me that.

“The fact that he had taken the opportunity at his own expense to divert to Birmingham suggested he was on the hook.

“They liked Villa Park. They liked the fact that I believed so much in Juninho’s talent. They clearly wanted to leap aboard.

The buzz

It wasn’t the first time Villa had made a play for Juninho. Gregory had been knocked back by Atletico Madrid the previous summer, but this time was given more encouragement.

This time it was so close to happening that Gregory imagined Juninho’s presence selling thousands of season tickets and even dared to dream of Brazilian left-back legend Roberto Carlos following his compatriot to Villa Park.

He also knew landing Juninho would bring a buzz to the dressing room.

Gregory remembers: “Is he coming Gaff?” the players were asking me. “Are we having Juninho here?” And this barely a year after so many of the senior players, respected voices all, had been openly criticising the club’s lack of ambition.

"Now they were saying to themselves, 'bloody hell, maybe we do mean it this time.”

The stumbling block

The cash.

Villa were ready to pay a financial package of around £15 million for Juninho. That would have included a transfer fee of £8-10 million, with the rest funding the player’s £1.5 million per year wages.

It was easily set to be their biggest outlay on a player, dwarfing the deal that brought Stan Collymore from Liverpool.

But there was a complication.

Juninho was owed more than £3 million by Atletico and the Spanish club wanted Villa to find that sum too. It would have taken the total nearer to £20 million - and it soon became clear Doug Ellis and the Villa board would not stretch to that.

“The figures were frightening,” admitted Gregory later. “Villa spend what they earn and as crunch time arrived, the moment when we would have to make a decision one way or the other, I started to feel it was becoming the impossible dream.

The aftermath

It was not to be. As Villa ummed and aahed, Atletico got fed up of waiting and took Juninho off the market, just as Ellis was ready to fly to Madrid for one last bargaining mission.

Juninho stayed with Atletico where he was popular with the supporters if not the coach, Arrigo Sacchi.

The following season he re-joined Middlesbrough on loan.

As for Villa, their tilt at the title collapsed. They failed to win in 10 Premier League games, losing eight of them, after exiting the FA Cup at home to lower league Fulham.

They eventually finished sixth, with Manchester United, Dwight Yorke and all, winning the treble.

It’s too simplistic to put the shocking loss of form down to missing out on Juninho, but Gregory admitted the failed deal did infect him with self doubt.

"I was a little exasperated that we, Aston Villa, had not been able to pull off such a deal and I did a lot of soul-searching," added Gregory.