Portsmouth boss Paul Hart has revealed he tried to sign Aston Villa striker John Carew while at Leeds United.

He said: "I tried to sign John Carew when he was 16.

"He is a very useful player but it was very difficult to get near him at that time. I was at Leeds and we certainly knew about him. He was very highly rated so we attempted to get him. Instead, though, he signed for Valerenga in Norway. You always knew he'd become a quality player, though, you could see it at that early age.

"I remember watching Carew play for Valencia against Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in April 2001 when he scored the only goal of the game. He gave two quality defenders like Tony Adams and Martin Keown a real hard time that night.

"Carew's very clever but he's also very big and because of his size his pace is sometimes under appreciated. He's done well at Villa but he's also scored goals in the Spanish league (for Valencia). To do that is excellent.

"It's hard to say whether he will start tomorrow, Martin (O'Neill) might play a 4-4-2. We'll have to see."