The former Barca president Joan Laporta has revealed
that the club were offered the Real Madrid superstar for less than
Manchester United paid for him back in 2009
Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that the Catalan
club were offered to sign Cristiano Ronaldo for €17 million when he was
18.
Madrid made Ronaldo the most expensive player in the world when they
paid an estimated €94m to Manchester United for his services in 2009.
Ronaldo scored a last-gasp winner for Madrid at Camp Nou last season
to end a 39-game unbeaten run for Barca and he will once again be front
and centre for Zinedine Zidane's side when they head back to Barcelona
on Saturday.
But Laporta - Barca's president between 2003 and 2010 - has made
public a conversation he held with Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes about
bringing the then-teenager to Catalonia as he led a rebuild of the
squad.
"When we [Laporta's administration] arrived, we signed Ronaldinho,
[Rafael] Marquez and [Ricardo] Quaresma," Laporta is quoted by AS .
"We were in a process of reconstruction. Cristiano was at Sporting CP and he was close to signing for United.
"The player's agent, who was handling Marquez and Quaresma said 'I've
got another really good player who's called Cristiano Ronaldo.'
"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."
Ronaldo would go on to make almost 300 appearances for United,
scoring 118 times, while he needs just one more to reach 500 club career
goals.
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