Arsenal are the club where many great players could have played if Arsene Wenger had some money or will or both—and Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo, was one of those players. Speaking to French TV channel, SFR Sport, former Arsenal scout, Damien Comolli, revealed that the former Manchester United winger came to the training ground of Arsenal on two occasions.
Comolli revealed as to how the Portugal captain impressed him on the very first occasion that he saw him play, which was as a 15-year-old against Japan in Montaigu tournament.
“The first time I saw Ronaldo, it was at the Montaigu tournament, he was 15," Comolli recalled. “He played against Japan before and I thought: ‘Who the hell is this? At half-time, I called my contact in Portugal to which I said that I had seen a phenomenon.”
He also opined that he didn’t see such a talent since scouting Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. “Since Thierry Henry, I’ve never seen that.”
Comolli further stated that Thierry Henry himself was asked to join him at the training ground in a bid to lure him to signing for the Gunners since the French World Cup winner was his idol
“He came twice to the training centre. Nobody knows that. He met Thierry, who was his idol.”
However, according to the former Liverpool director, Arsenal didn’t have the necessary amount of money to materialise the transfer. "But when it came to making the transfer, there was no money.”
And finally, Manchester United came knocking after the 3-time Ballon d’Or winner impressed Sir Alex Ferguson in a friendly match between the Red Devils and Cristiano Ronaldo’s then team, Sporting.
"Some months later, Manchester United made a partnership with Sporting, they played a friendly match in Lisbon.
"Sir Alex Ferguson said: ‘He must go to United’."
It was perhaps what destiny had in store for Cristiano Ronaldo as he went on to represent the Old Trafford outfit in 292 games, scoring 118 goals. He won the Premiership on three separate occasions while also lifting the Champions League title in 2008.
After that, he joined Real Madrid for a then world record fee of £80 million and subsequently went on to win two more Champions League titles and Ballon d’Ors and another league title, while also becoming Real Madrid’s all-time top scorer with 367 goals from only 353 games till date.
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