10 Players You Didn't Know Stoke Almost Signed

7. Dean Ashton

While the aforementioned tale of Portsmouth's woes may have been laden with pathos, it pales in comparison to the tragic story of Dean Ashton's career, simply because in the case of the former Crewe Alexandra hot-shot, his problems weren't self-inflicted. A talented and dangerous centre-forward, it was indeed his own brilliance which led to his footballing demise, suffering a severe ankle injury during a training session with the national side in 2006. While there were fleeting comebacks, the West Ham striker was never able to recover from that nightmarish injury, and reluctantly hung up his boots in December 2009 at the premature age of 26. However, such was his talent, that didn't stop him from becoming embroiled in one last transfer saga during his final transfer window as a professional athlete, with Stoke City reportedly ready to offer him a fresh start at the Britannia Stadium. Having made just 46 league appearances since arriving from Norwich City three years earlier, it appeared as though boss Gianfranco Zola was willing to sanction the move, as he signed Inter Milan striker Luis Jimenez.

''You're always taking a chance with people who have had injuries, but we took Ricardo Fuller when nobody would touch him and paid Southampton a nominal fee. I don't think he's missed a day's training since he came here and the only games he missed have been through suspension, not injury. Now and then you have to take a chance and even more so if they have the quality you can't get anywhere else.'' - Tony Pulis, July 2009.

Of course, the move never materialised, and just as well, as the figures were quoted were skywards of £10 million. The decision that Ashton was forced to make must have been hard enough for him - the guilt that he would have shrouded himself in had he walked out on his new club months after they had paid a club record fee isn't worth thinking about.