Ajax icon Danny Blind has revealed he once had the chance to join Aston Villa but turned it down to stay in the Netherlands.
Blind is an icon at the Dutch club having made 493 appearances for them between 1986 and 1999. In fact, he currently sits third on the Club van 100 list, the club’s official top 100 appearances makers in their history.
His time at the club was a hugely successful one, with him managing five Eredivisie titles, four KNVB Cup, 2 Johan Cruyff shields and several European honours, including the 1995 Champions League success and the UEFA Cup win in 1992.
His fame goes beyond the Netherlands, who he also made 42 appearances for, though, with him currently only one of six men to have won all five international club competitions and one of the nine to have won the three main European club competitions.
All of this was achieved at Ajax but, it seems, things could have been very different as he once had an offer from Aston Villa on the table.
“If you haven’t experienced it, you can’t miss it,” he told Ziggosport, relayed by Ajax Showtime.
“When we flourished with Ajax, I was 34, 35. I was able to go abroad when I was 28 and 29, but those clubs were of a different quality.
“They were Aston Villa, Paris Saint-Germain – which was not the club it is today – and Real Zaragoza. I did not choose that.
“I chose sporting wise, and that was to stay with Ajax. That has not done me any harm.”
If we’ve got the numbers right, and Aston Villa were interested in Blind when he was 28, that would mean they made their move around 1990.
That year saw them competing in the UEFA Cup, where they were beaten in the second round by Inter Milan and finish 17th in the table after Graham Taylor’s departure.
It was not exactly a glorious year in the Villans history, and, with an honours list as long as he’s got, it’s fair to say that Blind made the right decision.
