Huddersfield Town manager Chris Powell revealed he launched an inquiry to sign man-of-the-moment Sean Scannell while he was in charge of Championship rivals Charlton Athletic.
Scannell's recent rise has been one of the major talking points of the early days of Powell's reign and it culminated in a masterful performance during the 4-2 win over Blackpool on Saturday , in which he set up both of Harry Bunn's goals and hit a post late on.
The wideman was heavily linked with a deadline-day move to Millwall but stayed put after Powell personally intervened, despite having not been formally announced as the club's new manager at that point.
Powell has been quick to lavish praise on his in-form winger, who has flourished under his guidance, and told reporters at his press conference ahead of his side's meeting with Brighton and Hove Albion tomorrow that he did once try to sign him while manager of Charlton.
"Sean is a player I have been aware of for a long time," Powell said.
"I did inquire about him when Mark [Robins] was manager here but it never got anywhere, I don't think we could have got him anyway.
"I wanted him to stay because I wanted to make my mind up.
"It's easy for other people to say he hasn't done it here and that's fine, everyone has opinions and they will have seen him in more games than myself but I thought it was only right with the player I had seen over the years and I knew there was something there."
Hear more from Chris on Scannell and the 4-2 win over the Seasiders in our audio clip below.
