Former Benfica defender Nélson has revealed he once had the choice to join Aston Villa, only for club politics to rob him of the move.
Nélson, a right-back by trade, made 98 appearances for the Portuguese side between 2005 and 2008 after joining from Boavista in a £1.35m deal.
He departed the club in 2008, first joining Betis in a €5m deal before bouncing around several Spanish clubs and enjoying short stints in Italy and Greece too.
These days he is without a club after AEK on a free transfer in 2018, having seen his career slowly dwindle over the last 12 years.
He recently sat down to reflect on his life and career with Tribuna Expresso and revealed that things could have been very different, as Aston Villa were interested on two separate occasions.
“Yeah, my third year at Benfica was a very complicated year for me. And I’ll tell you why,” he told them.
“When Fernando Santos started his second season, after two games or so, he left. I remember we tied Bessa and he left before closing the market in August.
“I had an offer from Aston Villa to leave. They had come in December and then came back in July.
“Then Camacho arrived, who said he was counting on me, that he was an indispensable player at Benfica.
“I told him: “Look, Camacho, I’ll tell you the story here. Last year I spoke to the president, who had an offer, he knew perfectly well that I wasn’t happy with my salary at Benfica and a few things happened that I didn’t like.
“They offered me a pay raise, but they didn’t live up to it. I’m not happy, and I have this offer, which is good for the club and for me. See if you can help me with that”.
“And he replies: “O Nelson, calm down, you’re important to me, I’ll talk to the president, and in 20 days we’ll solve your situation”.
“I stayed at Benfica; I lost a great offer, all because I wanted to stay at Benfica.”
Nélson’s story is undoubtedly an interesting one given that in the summer of 2008, Aston Villa were certainly on the hunt for a right-back.
That year they ended up signing Luke Young in £6m deal from Middlesbrough to fill the spot, a move that worked out pretty well for both parties.
It seems, though, that Nélson was also a target and had things at Benfica played out differently, perhaps he would have been Villa’s right-back for the next three years rather than Young.
