Brendan Rodgers was close to making a Swansea City return in 2016, the club's under-fire chairman Huw Jenkins has confirmed.
Rodgers led Swansea to promotion from the Championship in the first of his two years in charge, achieving an 11th-place finish in the Premier League in the 2011-12 campaign.
The Northern Irishman subsequently moved to Liverpool but Jenkins held talks with Rodgers following his Anfield departure, with Swansea thought to be lining up a summer return after Francesco Guidolin replaced Garry Monk in the January of the 2015-16 season.
Guidolin was eventually handed a new two-year deal by Swansea, while Rodgers headed to Celtic, where he won a domestic treble last season.
Italian Guidolin was sacked only five months into that contract, with Bob Bradley and Paul Clement following him in and out of Swansea's managerial revolving door since, and Carlos Carvalhal named as the latest man to take on the job on Thursday.
"My biggest regret is not getting Brendan back here at any cost," Jenkins, who cited financial constraints as the reason behind his failure to land Rodgers and a return for midfielder Joe Allen at the same time, told reporters.
"I'm not going to hide from that. And I told him as well a few times.
"That would have been the biggest thing that we, or I, should have done differently, and that is make sure that at all costs he came back."
First day on the job for Carlos Carvalhal... Watch his first interview December 28, 2017
Jenkins has been widely criticised for Swansea's recent recruitment policy, with the loss of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente to Everton and Tottenham respectively contributing to the rock-bottom club's lack of goals this season.
There is also a belief that the Welsh club failed to invest the £45million received for Sigurdsson effectively, and new arrivals Sam Clucas, Wilfried Bony, Roque Mesa and Renato Sanches have struggled to make an impact.
But Jenkins insists that any remaining transfer funds generated in the previous window are available to be spent in January and, while the club's American owners are not expected to make additional cash available, he believes their involvement reduces the risk of Swansea encountering financial difficulties.
"Despite what some may say, no one goes into Swansea City's accounts and takes money out for any reason apart from ourselves running the club and trying to operate within the parameters we have got. That is it," Jenkins added.
"There is money available for January and it will be the money left over from the summer. That money has not gone anywhere.
"If we wanted to go beyond that, it's what we have always done and how we have always worked. The risks are less because of those financial bits that are covered and they are important."
CC on the challenge ahead:"All jobs are tough, and this one is very hard, but I like a challenge and that is why I am here." December 28, 2017
