It’s obviously no longer news that Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the high profile players who missed out on playing for the greatest football team in the world – Arsenal. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi, Paul Pogba are among the unfortunate others.
The fact that the Portuguese star joined rivals Manchester United instead still hurt, according to Wenger.
‘The obvious player that comes to mind is Ronaldo. He was here with his mother and we were very close…My biggest regret [is that] I was so close to signing Cristiano Ronaldo, and not only did I not get him, he signed for Manchester United, so that of course still hurts today,’ the Frenchman said last year.
The man at the centre of it all has now revealed how his ‘almost completed’ move to Arsenal was hijacked by United.
‘I met with Arsene Wenger and was about to go to Arsenal,’ Ronaldo told Portuguese TV channel TVI.
‘There had been contacts with so many other teams, Valencia for example were one of them. I talked to Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter too but after the friendly against Manchester United, who were already interested, they became even more interested and they sped up negotiations and signed me.’
Gary Neville was said to have played a part in ensuring that the deal comes to fruition. He was given a torrid time by the Young Ronaldo in the friendly game and never stopped pressurizing Alex Ferguson to sign him. That fraud!
People would say Arsenal missed out on such a talented player but I disagree – Ronaldo would look back one day and might regret not lining up alongside the greatest team ever assembled – The Invincibles.
That’s his loss though.