From the outside looking in, it seemed that when David O'Leary was in charge of Leeds United, all he had to do when he had identified a player that he would like to sign was ask chairman Peter Risdale, who would then stump up the cash.
During the summer of 1999, and seemingly for the majority of his stint at Elland Road, O'Leary was in the market for a striker. In a rare act of restraint, Risdale had refused to bow to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's financial demands and the previous season's 18-goal centre-forward was sold to Atletico Madrid.
A number of names were bandied about in the gossip columns as to who would replace the Dutchman, but few had mentioned Darren Huckerby. The former Newcastle United youngster had flourished under Gordon Strachan's management at Coventry City, where he had scored 34 goals, including a memorable one against Manchester United, in three seasons.
Such form and statistics attracted the attention of O'Leary and following negotiations with the Sky Blues, Huckerby made the move to Yorkshire 15 years ago today for an initial £4m. However, Risdale hinted that the Nottingham-born frontman may not have been the club's number one choice.
"I am clearly delighted with this signing because Darren is someone we have been tracking for some time. We have agreed a fee with Coventry of £4m, which will rise to £5.5m due to add-ons relating to both our performance and the performance of the player," he said.
"We have also agreed personal terms and subject to a medical, assuming he is fit, he will sign for us. We will have to wait and see where Darren fits into our squad, but we are obviously adding to it with a quality striker who has proved himself against us and top opposition in the past.
"But just because we have signed Darren, it does not stop our quest for bringing in a strong centre-forward. The money is still there for David to do that."
With Mark Viduka, Alan Smith and Michael Bridges for company, Huckerby found starting opportunities hard to come by, almost from the word go. He scored just two Premier League goals and six in all competitions before he was sold to Manchester City for just £3.4m in December 2000.
Speaking about his move to Leeds to the Coventry Telegraph in 2010, Huckerby conceded that he did not actually want to make the switch.
"I remember getting the phone call from my agent that a fee had been agreed with Leeds. I didn't want to go but I went to Gordon Strachan's office and he explained that they couldn't refuse that kind of money for me," he revealed.
"I was enjoying playing week in week out, and although Leeds were a higher-placed side at the time I didn't want to go there and sit on the bench. I was really disappointed when I left but the club needed the money so that was it."
After Man City, Huckerby went on to spend five years at Carrow Road with Norwich City, before he brought an end to his career in the MLS with the San Jose Earthquakes.
Liam Apicella
