BARCELONA’S president has refused to deny reports linking the club with a transfer for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo wants to leave Manchester United after a dismal performance last season saw the club endure its worst ever Premier League campaign.
While a number of clubs have been linked to the legendary forward, a move has thus far failed to materialise.
However, reports had indicated Barcelona were in line for a shock transfer for Ronaldo prior to them signing Robert Lewandowski.
And club chief Joan Laporta failed to deny the rumours of talks between himself and Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes.
He told CBS Sports: “This type of story is all within the process of the summer window. There always appears a lot of news. But in the end the truth is we wanted Lewandowski.
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“We have a very good relationship with Jorge Mendes. I have known him for a long time. He is one of the best player agents.
“He knows how to do his job and I respect him. In this case, we decided to go for Lewandowski and knew he was crucial to our success.
“So we went to Bayern (Munich) instead. This is the reality.
“The other (Ronaldo) topic is just part of the “little history” of football. It’s a very nice story, but you will always hear lots of contradictory news about it.”
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The links come despite Ronaldo’s affiliation with the Blaugrana’s bitter La Liga rivals Real Madrid where he spent nine years of his career, breaking the club scoring record in the process.
When pressed further on the rumours, Laporta insisted Lewandowski was always the club’s main target and revealed his admiration of Ronaldo’s “ambition and competitiveness.”
Ronaldo scored 24 times for Man Utd last season outscoring United’s next best goalscorer, Bruno Fernandes, by 14.
The 37-year-old has confirmed he will feature in United’s friendly against Rayo Vallecano tomorrow.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
