‘Barcelona could have bought Ronaldo for €17m before he joined Man United’

The former president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, has revealed that his side had an opportunity to bring Christiano Ronaldo to Camp Nou in 2003, the same summer when he won the club’s election to become the chief.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are the two biggest rivals in the Spanish League; a rivalry that has also fueled the tussle between Ronaldo and Messi, who have both become the biggest names in world football.

Ronaldo, then 18, was at Sporting CP when Jorge Mendes (a super agent to Ronaldo) offered him to Barcelona for €17 million. But Barcelona were given a blow when Sir Alex Ferguson, with an extra €2 million pay to Sporting, brought the Portuguese teenager to Old Trafford.

“When we [the new administration] arrived, we signed Ronaldinho, [Rafael] Márquez and [Ricardo] Quaresma,” Laporta told Spanish newspaper Marca.

“We were in a process of reconstruction,” he said. “Cristiano was at Sporting CP and he was close to signing for United. The player’s agent, who was handling Márquez and Quaresma, said, ‘I’ve got another really good player who’s called Cristiano Ronaldo.’

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“We told him we knew about him and he offered him to us for two million [euros] cheaper than to United, who ended up paying 19 million (Euros).”

Ronaldo went on to became a star at United, winning multiple silverware with the Red Devils, and was instrumental in Manchester United’s winning of the Champions League.

But a year later, Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee, which was then broken with Gareth Bale’s signing from Tottenham Hotspur, which in turn was also broken when Manchester United paid a world-record fee for Paul Pogba last summer.

Nevertheless, the former United legend has remained a star player at the club in Spain’s capital, and he will be leading his side’s attack when they play FC Barcelona in the first El Clasico of this season on December 3 at Camp Nou.

 

 

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