Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo almost signed for Juventus in 2002, coming very close to joining the Binaconeri as his move went as far as a medical. However, the move broke down, with Ronaldo eventually joining Manchester United and later catapulting to stratospheric global fame with Real Madrid.
Ronaldo’s near-miss transfer to Juventus was revealed by Gianni di Marzio. The outspoken character of Serie A is now an advisor at Palermo, but was a scout with Juventus in 2002 and was responsible for eyeing up Ronaldo. In an interview with La Repubblica, he refelcted on other near-misses as well, saying “Negotiations with [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and [Carlos] Tevez had finished [badly] with Juve, but I suggested [Javier] Mascherano and, in 2002, Cristiano Ronaldo”
"I made a report on Cristiano and went to watch him play for Sporting against Belenenses. I spoke to the kid and to his mother and the following day both of them were in Turin, where he underwent a medical. But in the end it didn’t come together.”
The reason that the transfer broke down is because Marcelo Salas, then an aging striker at Juventus, refused to move,with Di Marzio revealing as much, saying “As part of the deal, Salas was supposed to go to Sporting but he refused to go and the transfer broke down.”
Ronaldo’s move to Juventus has been spoken about before
Ronaldo’s move to Juventus was also revealed by a former Juventus director, Franco Ceravolo last year, saying “I wanted to take Cristiano Ronaldo for Juve, we were close to doing a deal. It was all done but [Marcelo] Salas (who Juventus were using as a makeweight in the deal) refused the transfer to Sporting Lisbon.”
Another Juventus director Luciano Moggi was the first to reveal the transfer in 2013, saying “We had everything signed with Sporting Lisbon. We had agreed a swap deal with Cristiano in exchange for Marcelo Salas, who accepted the move, went to Portugal, but then backed out.”
“That's when Manchester United intervened. They were offering millions and we had no money to compete, so I had to cancel the contract. Cristiano Ronaldo could have joined Juventus when he was 18.”
As it turned out, Ronaldo signed for Manchester United for a fee of 17.5 million euros, and went on to blossom under Sir Alex Ferguson’s tutelage, becoming one of the world's bonafide stars when he moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee.
