Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger has revealed just how close he came to signing Cristiano Ronaldo before Manchester United hijacked the move.
Portuguese winger Ronaldo moved to United for £12.24million in the summer of 2003 after impressing against Sir Alex Ferguson's side in a pre-season fixture against Sporting Lisbon.
Ronaldo went on to cement himself as a legend at Old Trafford where he won the first of his five Ballon d'Or awards as well as playing a pivotal role in their last Champions League triumph.
Since leaving Old Trafford the 35-year-old has established himself as arguably the greatest footballer of all-time with prolonged success at both club and international level.
However, things might well have turned out differently had he opted to sign for Arsenal rather than United, with Wenger labelling the missed opportunity as perhaps the biggest transfer regret of his own illustrious career.
“Oof! I would say there is not one player, there are 50 (I regret not signing)!” Wenger told The Guardian.
"On the other hand, maybe the closest was Cristiano Ronaldo, when he signed for Man United.
“We had an agreement with Sporting and Man United took Carlos Queiroz as assistant coach, and they just outbid us quickly and took Ronaldo. But we had an agreement basically. He had the shirt of Arsenal, I had lunch with him and his mother at the training ground!
“It’s one example but there were so many. The history of a big club is full of missed great players!”
