Former Barcelona President, Joan Laporta has revealed that the club was offered the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo for €17million, before he moved to Manchester United.
Laporta has explained that the Catalans turned down the offer, as they were already bringing Ronaldinho.
Ronaldo blossomed into a true football superstar at Old Trafford and eventually signed for Barca’s eternal rivals, Real Madrid.
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Currently, at Juventus, his five Ballon d’Or awards are bettered only by Barcelona captain Lionel Messi, who has six.
Laporta has now claimed that Ronaldo and Messi could have been team-mates at Camp Nou.
“We were about to sign Ronaldinho and Rafa Marquez. Marquez’s people proposed Cristiano Ronaldo to us. He was at Sporting at the time.
“One of his agents said they had a player who they sold to United for 19 million, but they’d sell him to us for 17 million.
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“But we had already invested in Ronaldinho at the time. Cristiano played more out wide than in the centre. We thought we were covered, so we rejected him and I don’t regret it,” Laporta told Iniestazo.
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