Every football club passes on a player that ends up going on to become a star of the game.
In St Mirren 's case, they missed out on one of the English Premier League's most exciting talents of the last ten years in Riyad Mahrez.
Having completed the ultimate underdog story by winning the league with Leicester City, the flying Algerian winger switched to giants Man City.
He's lifted the Premier League title twice under Pep Guardiola, with the Sky Blues on course to win another this season.
The tricky 30-year-old etched his name further into the club's history last night, bagging two crucial goals against PSG to send City into the final of the Champions League.
It's difficult to imagine the winger as a young teenager at St Mirren's Ralston training academy trying to impress the club and convince them to sign him.
Back in 2009, that's what happened. And looking back on the opportunity, the Buddies will surely be kicking themselves that they missed out on such an incredible talent.
Speaking to Unscriptd, Mahrez explained: "I played like four games and scored seven goals.
“They were saying, every game, game after game, ‘We don’t know, we have to see, we have to wait’.
“The agent who sent me to Scotland said to me, ‘Riyad, just come back because we don’t know what they are doing there, they keep stopping you from signing there’.
“So I was quite happy to come back because Scotland was very difficult and very cold. I was young.
“I’d never been away from my family for that long.”
With St Mirren taking too long to sign him, Mahrez infamously cycled away from his hotel to catch a flight back to Paris where he went on to sign for French side Quimper.
Despite not enjoying the Paisley weather, the winger believes his stint in Scotland still helped to develop his game.
Mahrez added: "In these two months in Scotland I really improved physically.
“I played with the English spirit as well - it’s the same as British spirit.
“It was very intense physically and I think these two months helped me.
“When I came back to France I had better movement, better things in my qualities.
“That helped me to become the player I am now. So now it has become my strength.”
