Former Birmingham City striker reveals he could have signed for Aston Villa

Former Premier League striker Troy Deeney has said he had an 'opportunity' to sign for Aston Villa earlier in his career.

The 35-year-old was last involved in football as manager at Forest Green Rovers at League Two.

Deeney, who is from Birmingham, has said Aston Villa wanted him to remove his Birmingham City tattoo if he had of joined them.

He went on to make 706 appearances in his career and scored 217 goals in all competitions.

The attacker is best known for his time at Watford and he spent 12 years at Vicarage Road. He helped them gain promotion to the Premier League twice during his time there.

He has said he had the chance to join Aston Villa in an interview with talkSPORT: "I had an opportunity to, yeah.

"My friends let me know it wouldn't be a good idea, and secondly they wanted me to remove my Birmingham City tattoo as well."

"The club [Aston Villa wanted me to], that was part of the conversation.

"But they've gone onto bigger and better things and so have I."

He added: "No I wouldn't have [had it removed], that's why it didn't get too far.

"My best friend is Birmingham City die-hard, my whole family are Birmingham City apart from my brother who weirdly decided to go against the grain.

"It would have been a difficult place to live and see the family if I was playing for Aston Villa for a few months.

"I'm sure they would have got over it afterwards."