TROY DEENEY has revealed he turned down a move to Aston Villa after they put a bizarre clause in their contract offer… before the club’s supporters ended up HATING him.
Watford legend Deeney, 35, grew up six miles away from St Andrew’s – the home of Villa’s rivals Birmingham.
He has a tattoo of the the Blues’ crest on his calf and ended up playing for them in the latter stages of his career between 2021 and 2023.
Deeney also bagged six goals in five games against Villa and once had coins thrown at him by fans of the Midlands club after scoring against them.
Yet had circumstances been slightly different, Deeney could have ended up leading the line for them earlier in his career.
That was if he had agreed to remove his Birmingham tattoo – a sticking point for those at Villa.
Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “I had an opportunity to [join Villa], 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 on to bigger and better things and so have I.”
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Deeney went on to admit he believes a move to Villa would have made it tough for his family – most of whom support Birmingham.
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.”
Deeney scored 11 goals in 56 games for Birmingham across a two-season spell.
But he is best-known for more than a decade at Watford where netted 140 times in 419 appearances.
He helped The Hornets secure promotion to the Premier League in 2015 and 2021, while he also reached the FA Cup final in 2019 where Watford lost 6-0 to Manchester City.
