Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert says he was "very close" to joining Aston Villa on transfer deadline day, but just couldn't bring himself to leave Anfield.
Lambert was given permission to speak to Villa after the Reds agreed a five million-pound deal on Feb. 2.
The 33-year-old considered the offer, having been told by manager Brendan Rodgers that he was likely to get more first-team football at Villa Park.
But he decided that he could not leave the club he supported as a boy less than eight months after arriving from Southampton for four million pounds.
The England international told the Liverpool Echo: "I wasn't aware of any interest until deadline day.
"I got a phone call from the gaffer about 4 p.m. saying Aston Villa had come in. He said he didn't want me to go but basically offered me the chance if I wanted to play football, which is fair enough.
"I spoke to my agent, I spoke to my wife, I spoke to Aston Villa and it was close. It was very close. It was touch and go. We agreed everything.
"The deal was agreed, but in the end, there just wasn't enough time to say yes -- to make a decision in the space of four or five hours for the next two-and-a-half-years. Not just for me, but for my family as well.
"It was something I just couldn't do. It was too short notice. It was too big of a decision to make in the short amount of time I had."
Lambert made the decision to reject Villa's offer around 90 minutes before the mid-season transfer window shut.
The striker had gone through a last-minute deal when joining Bristol Rovers from Rochdale in August 2006, but did not feel he could do the same again.
He said: "It was late. It was about half past nine. I would have had to have gone and done the medical then.
"I'd done that once before when Bristol Rovers came in for me on deadline day. Back then I was driving down in the car and negotiating the contract. That would have had to have been the same again. But at the last minute I said no.
"It was nothing negative towards Aston Villa, it's a great club. I just didn't think it was right for me to leave here just six months into my Liverpool career. I didn't want to go.
"It was something that I would have probably looked back at a few years down the line and regretted if I had moved too early. It was very close but I just couldn't do it.
"It's hard sometimes when you aren't playing but I'm at the club I love. I'm not willing to give that up easily."