The curious tale of the 'Coca-Cola Kid' - and how he almost joined Wigan Athletic!

The 37-year-old's two-decade career has seen him play for 18 different clubs across eight countries.

But his career trajectory could have been so different had his first move taken him to the DW Stadium.

Back in 2005, Kazim-Richards - an Arsenal junior product - had burst on to the scene at Bury.

Latics, having just won promotion to the Premiership, were involved in a tug-of-war for his signature, with Brighton, who had finished one point above the drop zone in the second tier.

It looked like Dave Whelan's wallet would prove decisive, only for a Brighton fan to win a competition with Coca-Cola, as part of a sponsorship tie-in with the EFL.

Thanks to supporter Aaron Berry, a cool £250,000 found its way into the coffers at Brighton.

Which proved to be the difference in the Kazim-Richards transfer chase.

"So how it worked is... when you brought a can of Coke there was a [phone] number to call to see if you win money for your club," Kazim-Richards told the 'Filthy Fellas' podcast.

"A Brighton fan won the money - Brighton already wanted me, I was already talking...I was supposed to go to Wigan.

"Brighton couldn't match the transfer fee Bury wanted. Then they won this money so they did that.

"It was a better story to say a fan brought me."

Kazim-Richards, 18 at the time, became 'The Coca-Cola kid'.

However, there was no happy ending to the story, with Brighton suffering relegation in his only season there, despite Kazim-Richards scoring six goals in 44 appearances.

In the summer of 2006, he signed Sheffield United, for whom he came on as a second-half substitute on the final day of the campaign against Latics, who survived at the Blades’ expense thanks to a 2-1 victory.

He went on to play for Fenerbahce, Toulouse, Galatasaray, Olympiacos, Blackburn, Bursaspor, Feyenoord, Celtic, Coritiba, Corinthians, Lubos BUAP, Veracruz, Pachuca, Derby and Fatih Karagumruk, as well as winning 37 caps for Turkey.