Harry Redknapp has admitted that he came very close to signing Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira and Chelsea superstar Eden Hazard while in management.

The 79-year-old also admitted that he missed out on signing former Arsenal striker Ian Wright while he was at Bournemouth in the 1980s.

"I got to know Ian Wright through Carl Richards who I signed from Enfield for £10,000," Redknapp told Overlap Daily.

"Carl said, can you try him. But I said is he as good as you? And he said no. I said then tell him to fk off."

Wright moved to Crystal Palace in 1985 and eventually joined Arsenal in 1991, becoming one of the greatest goalscorers in the club’s history.

Redknapp also said that Tottenham were close to signing Hazard while he was at Lille. The former Chelsea midfielder, Joe Cole, recommended him to Redknapp, adding that he was "the best player I ever played with".

He went to meet Hazard, saw him play and spoke with his agent. The winger was keen to move to Spurs, however the chairman Daniel Levy was unwilling to fork out the reported £18million.

"We went over there, met him in a hotel room. We went and watched him play. We had a chat with his agent. He was keen to come but Daniel wasn’t really wanting to spend the money at that time," Redknapp said.

Hazard eventually moved to Chelsea in 2012. He became one of the brightest stars in the Premier League, winning 2 league titles and numerous other major trophies before moving to Real Madrid.

Possibly the most interesting revelation of the three was Patrick Vieira, who captained Arsenal during their successful era under Arsene Wenger.

Redknapp claims that in 2009, while playing for Inter Milan he met the Frenchman at his home. He was keen to sign for Tottenham despite having a strong bond with the North London giants.

Redknapp had previously defended the move, claiming that Vieira was an incredible player and wanted to play regularly. However, the move never came off and Vieira moved to Manchester City in January 2010.

These three missed signings are incredibly interesting to see how different football history could have been if Redknapp had managed to sign them.