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Cristiano Ronaldo was in demand when he broke out at Sporting CP and was linked with a host of clubs before his move to Manchester United.
The Portuguese ace joined the Red Devils for £12 million in 2003 and went on to become the club's record sale in 2009. He joined Real Madrid for then a world record fee of £80 million. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson played a huge part in luring the forward to Old Trafford and the move caught a few clubs by surprise.
Here are seven clubs that tried to sign the veteran forward in 2003:
Lyon were offered Cristiano Ronaldo in 2002
A year before Cristiano Ronaldo joined Manchester United, he was offered to Olympique Lyon with another player coming on loan in exchange. Sporting CP were keen on signing Tony Vairelles, but the Ligue1 side turned down the offer.
Speaking to Canal later and recalling the deal, Vairelles said:
"They proposed an exchange between Ronaldo and another player, who would be loaned to Lyon, and I would join Sporting Lisbon. This was in 2002, he was still young (17 years old). Lyon should be displeased for turning the deal down, it's a funny anecdote."
Everton rejected him for David Ginola
Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo linked up at Manchester United for years, but they were close to playing together at Everton. The Toffees were offered the Portuguese forward for just £2 million in 2002, but they decided not to sign the youngster.
Instead, the Merseyside club went on to sign David Ginola, who made just seven appearances for the club before calling it quits.
Juventus
Cristiano Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in 2018 but there was a good chance of him moving to Turin back in 2003. The Old Lady were interested in the player, but before they could make a move for him as he had signed for Manchester United.
Italian agent Alessandro Moggi recalled the incident and said:
"In 2003, Mendes was looking to engineer a move for his first great player: Cristiano Ronaldo. He was a kid of 18 who had just made his debut for Sporting and Mendes wanted him to move to Italy. We tried to help them out and offered him to Parma and Lazio but he was rejected by both."
He added:
"Juventus on the other hand said yes and sent us to Lisbon with Mendes to tie up the deal with Sporting. In a matter of half a day, he became a Manchester United player. It was a deal that could have changed the history of European football. I thought about it a million times during the days I was in Lisbon."
The Portugal international joined the Bianconeri in 2018 and scored over 100 goals before moving back to Manchester United in 2021.
Liverpool wanted Cristiano Ronaldo before Manchester United move
Cristiano Ronaldo also had an offer from Liverpool on his table, but before the Reds got any reply from Sporting, Manchester United snapped him up.
Liverpool's assistant manager at the time Phil Thompson claimed that the Portuguese had agreed on a four-year contract worth £4 million. However, the move did not take place before his move to the Red Devils.
Barcelona
Legendary rivals Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing in the same team is the stuff of dreams. Several fans would pay whatever it takes to see the duo link up on the pitch, but it has never happened in competitive action.
Barcelona had the chance to make it a possibility in 2003 but rejected the Al-Nassr forward because they had just signed Ronaldinho. Barcelona president Joan Laporta said:
“We had signed Ronaldinho, [Rafael] Marquez and [Ricardo] Quaresma. We were in a process of reconstruction throughout the whole club. [Ronaldo] was at Sporting at the time, before Manchester United, and we were speaking with his agent who wanted to sell us Deco."
He added:
"We said that we couldn't because we weren't able to [spend that much at the time], so he told us he had another really good kid. It was Ronaldo. He had a deal with United for €19 million, but we were offered him for €17m."
Sir Alex Ferguson offered Ronaldo to Barcelona in 2009 but he pushed for a move to Real Madrid and eventually joined Los Blancos.
Malaga
All the top clubs were after the now 37-year-old in the 2002-03 season but Malaga registered interest way before his debut. The Spanish side saw the Portuguese as a star in the making but decided not to sign the forward because the fee was too high.
Carlos Rincona, a Malaga scout, said:
"Cristiano had not yet made his debut for Sporting's first team, and we made an offer through Jorge Mendes. Mendes took the offer and we hoped to bring the player to Malaga, he was the player he is now but as a young man, he had physical power and could strike a ball."
He added:
"At the time we made an offer of €1.5million and Sporting felt he was worth €3.5 million, we couldn't increase our offer because of financial limits placed upon us."
Arsenal
Arsenal have tried to sign almost all the top players at some point in their careers. Cristiano Ronaldo is no different and manager Arsene Wenger once confirmed he made a move for the Portuguese ace too.
He told LadBible:
"We thought it was possible. If we had been a fraction quicker, a few days because we had agreed and then Manchester United came in 5 or 6 days later."
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner played for Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and now Al Nassr, achieving success with each club. However, the story could have been different if one of the aforementioned moves had gone through.
