CRISTIANO RONALDO was really close to making a move to Arsenal – and former boss Arsene Wenger says its failure to materialise still haunts him
In an interview with magazine FourFourTwo to be released in November, Wenger claims that he nearly completed the signing of the Portugese ace when Thierry Henry was still at the club, and the thought of them playing together still makes him sweat.
Wenger still rues missing out on RonaldoCredit: PA:Press Association
He said: “When I had Thierry, I could have signed (Cristiano) Ronaldo.
“Can you imagine what they could have done together?
“That makes you sweat a little bit, and I was very close to doing it. I thought it was all done.”
When probed on how close it was to happening he held his index finger and thumb within a millimetre of each other and said: “It was that close.”
The Gunners had even got Ronaldo a shirt and welcomed his mother to the stadium.
Wenger exclaimed: “He had the shirt of Arsenal – I had lunch with him and his mother at the training ground!”
But just when the transfer seemed to be a formality, Wenger’s adversary, former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and his newly-appointed assistant swooped in and stole Ronaldo from Arsenal.
The ex-Gunners boss recalled the moment it happened and revealed that United financially out-muscled them from the deal.
He said: “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.”
Ronaldo’s star rose meteorically at United and he helped them win three Premier League titles, the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
His impressive performances caught the eyes of Madrid who signed him for £80million in 2009.
He became known as arguably the best player in the world while in Spain, and was regularly pitted against rival Lionel Messi for the coveted title.
Ronaldo then went on to join Juventus and represented his national team Portugal throughout his career.
His list of achievements are endless and he has won five Champions League titles and been named Ballon d’Or winner five times, as well as winning four Club World Cups and domestic titles in England, Spain and Italy.
The 35-year-old has scored 641 career goals at club level plus another 101 on the international stage as Portugal’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Arsene Wenger says competition is real and that he’s realised he was a monster
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
