In 2003, Manchester United came agonisingly close to signing Ronaldinho but the Brazilian legend instead joined FC Barcelona and the disappointment triggered the Premier League club to pursue a certain Cristiano Ronaldo who was then plying his trade for Portugal’s Sporting CP.
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand on The Obi One Podcast revealed how Ronaldo left his teammate John O’Shea panting during a friendly match.
“He (O’Shea) was in bits and he was sitting there panting. We were telling him to get closer to Ronaldo and he couldn’t even answer us,” Ferdinand said.
He added, “To be fair, me, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were standing there going ‘this kid’s unbelievable, we’ve got to sign him’.”
Manchester United stars then urged Sir Alex Ferguson to sign the highly-rated star.
“We got on the coach and we were delayed for about an hour and a half, and then they said they were doing a deal to sign Ronaldo now,” Ferdinand said.
The former defender then said the reason why Manchester United went for Ronaldo was in part because the club was recovering from the disappointment of missing out on Ronaldinho’s signature.
“It was actually lucky that we signed him (Ronaldo) because it was only on the disappointment of not signing Ronaldinho that summer,” Ferdinand said.
“We tried to sign Ronaldinho, and he choose to leave Paris Saint-Germain and went to Barcelona. I remember the manager was devastated,” he added.
Ronaldo spent six years at Old Trafford and won multiple Premier League titles, a Champions League trophy, the FIFA Club World Cup in 2008 among other silverwares. He won the first of his five Ballon d’Or awards with Manchester United in 2008.
After stints with Real Madrid and Juventus, Ronaldo made a stunning return to Manchester United in 2021 and made an acrimonious exit midway through his second year to join Saudi Club Al Nassr.
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