John Terry rejected a huge contract offer from Manchester City to stay at Chelsea in 2009.
Former City chief executive Garry Cook revealed the club held talks with the defender about a move to the Etihad.
The Blues gave City permission to talk to the England captain after pursuing him for most of that summer.
However, Terry turned down the five-year deal before signing a new deal at Stamford Bridge in August.
Cook told the Sky Sports News Transfer Talk podcast: “We went through the process [of signing Terry].
“[Chelsea chief executive] Peter Kenyon was there at the time and we had conversations with him, saying we’d like to do it and we’d like to have a conversation.
“I think he was probably more confident that he [Terry] wasn’t going anywhere.
“We had conversations with John and he decided to stay where he was, and quite rightly so.
“But there was never a document ready to sign.”
In 2017, the defender admitted the interest gave him ‘bargaining power’ when it came to negotiating a new deal with Roman Abramovich.
Terry signed a £150,000-a-week deal to make him the best-paid player at the club at the time.
“There were players out there who were using us as a stalking horse and that’s the game,” Cook added. “If you want to get a better contract in your renewal with the club you’re with, then you’ve got to try and raise a market, and that’s what agents would do.
“The reality is, would we have liked a lot of them to come? Yes. But the truth is, some of them were a little bit smoke and mirrors.”