Former Luton star Elstrup has no regrets in rejecting Leeds move as Whites signed Eric Cantona to win Division One title

Ex-Hatter Lars Elstrup doesn’t have any regrets in turning down a move to Leeds United in the summer of 1991 that could have seen him crowned a Division One champion.

Then aged 28 and on the back of a season where he had bagged 15 Division One goals for a Hatters side who had finished 18th in the top flight, staying up on the final day by beating Derby County 2-0, it saw the Whites come calling for his signature.

Despite being interested and meeting with boss Howard Wilkinson, Elstrup went on turn to the move down, opting to head back to his home country instead, rejoining Odense whom he had left for Luton, spending a further two seasons there before retiring.

Leeds went on to sign a certain Eric Cantona instead a few months later, as the Frenchman helped spearhead the Elland Road club to claim the title, winning the league for the first time since 1974.

However, when looking back at his decision, the former Danish international said: “It was in the cards that I was to leave Luton after the second season.

"I went to Derby before the season ended and met with Howard Wilkinson, manager of Leeds and he was very interested in getting me to the club.

“That was just an introduction meeting and he said, any striker that he brought to his club, he never scored under 20 goals in the league.

"I said I would think about it, I went back to Denmark and I turned him down.

"I wanted to go back to Denmark and he ended up buying Eric Cantona and Harry Kewell and Leeds ended up being English champions.

“There's no regrets, there’s just an extra on the story and Eric Cantona as you probably know went to Manchester and won six out of seven titles.”