In the last decade of the 20th century, football saw unprecedented sums when clubs started paying huge amounts of money for the best footballers in the world. Italian Serie A clubs were the pioneers of this new trend, and later on, the giants of the English Premier League joined them.
Before that, Premier League teams had never attracted world-class stars, but as money began to dominate football, England's top tier quickly became one of the strongest leagues in the world. However, some footballers managed to avoid the English net and started their careers in other countries, and one of them was the legendary Brazilian defender Roberto Carlos.
In 1995, his career had not yet taken off, but it was time for him to leave the Palmeiras team in Brazil and spread his wings across the Atlantic. Although it is well known that the defender started his career at Inter Milan, it was not far from happening that the Brazilian would be drawn to England.
The last decade of the century was quite successful for Aston Villa. They finished second in the Premier League once, only behind Manchester United, and won the English Cup twice in 1994 and 1996. Sir Alex Ferguson predicted that Aston Villa would join the elite clubs of England and become a hard-to-beat force worldwide. Although this did not happen, Villa fans can only speculate on what might have been if Carlos had joined them.
"I was very close to signing a contract with Aston Villa at the beginning of my career," admitted Carlos. "I met with the club officials, but nothing happened. Birmingham also showed interest, but no agreement was reached. After that, I joined Inter," the defender said.
Carlos was playing for the Brazilian national team in a friendly match in Sweden, and the then Villa co-owner Doug Ellis was impressed by the young player's game and wanted him in his team. However, former coach Brian Little had doubts and did not agree with Ellis' opinion. Instead, the club signed a contract with Alan Wright, who never wore the England national team jersey. For comparison: Carlos became a World Champion with the Brazilian national team in 2002, and that year he was among the candidates to win the Ballon d'Or.
Carlos did not stay in Italy and joined Real Madrid a year later. In 2007, the Brazilian had another opportunity to play in England, and this time he was tempted by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. Carlos revealed that an agreement was close once again, but it was impossible as they could not agree on several important details.
During his career, Carlos became a World Champion, a two-time America's Cup winner, a Confederations Cup winner with the Brazilian national team. With Real Madrid, the Brazilian won the La Liga championship four times, the Spanish Cup three times, the Champions League three times, and the Super Cup once. Carlos was also named the best defender of the year twice and was selected for the best team of the year twice. He also finished second in the Ballon d'Or voting once.
It remains only to speculate what would have happened if Carlos had joined Aston Villa. How would his career have turned out and where would the English team be now.
