Former Tottenham Hotspur striker and Egypt national team coach Mido said that he and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were supposed to join different clubs when they moved to Italy in 2004.
Mido, now the coach of Wadi Degla in the Egyptian Premier League, said he was due to sign for Juventus and Ibrahimovic was intended to end up with AS Roma -- an arrangement made by their agent, Mino Raiola.
"When I arrived at the airport, Raiola called me and told me that I had to cancel my trip to Turin since Juventus had reached an agreement with Ibra instead and I was going to Roma," Mido told DMC TV.
Mido made just eight league appearances for Roma before being loaned to Tottenham, where he played for the next two and a half seasons. He made a move to Middlesbrough in 2007, before short stints at a series of clubs before he retired after playing for Barnsley in 2013.
Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, starred at Juventus, making 70 appearances before moving to Inter Milan at the start of the 2006-07 season following the Calciopoli scandal.
"[Former Juventus coach] Fabio Capello always backed Ibra in his first season and he continued to support him right through to when he played in Serie A, which is different to how things were with me at Roma," Mido said.