How Liverpool Missed Out On Signing Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo shot to superstardom during his time at Manchester United, but it has now been revealed that the Juventus star could well have turned out for rivals Liverpool had things worked out differently. 

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In 2003, United beat off competition from a host of clubs to sign Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon for a reported figure of £12.2 million (R233 million). That move began a six-year affiliation between player and club that yielded three Premier League titles and saw the now-34-year-old claim the first of his five Ballon d'Or crowns.

Things could have turned out differently for the Portugal star, however, as it has now been revealed that Liverpool were preparing a bid to sign him prior to his move to Manchester. 

"He (Ronaldo) was being touted around everyone," former Liverpool assistant manager Phil Thompson told The Athletic.

"Tony Henry, the former Man City midfielder, was working for (agent) Paul Stretford, who was tasked by Jorge Mendes to drum up interest in England

"They were desperate to get Ronaldo out of Sporting and invited me over for a game. I was told the fee was £4 million (R76 million), but they explained that it could be paid over the course of a four-year contract so essentially it was £1 million (R19 million) per year.

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"I asked what kind of salary he would want and they said it was £1 million per year after tax. That was a lot for an 18-year-old kid, but they said that was negotiable.

"It was a Sunday and I explained to them that I needed to go back to Liverpool and speak to Gerard Houllier and see what we could do. I fed all the information back to Gerard, who said he would speak to (chief executive) Rick Parry.

"Lo and behold, the following week I'm at Melwood when the yellow ticker on Sky Sports News says, 'Manchester United sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting for £12.2 million.' I couldn't believe my eyes.

"How had the fee gone up from £4 million to £12.2 million in a few days? Gerard (Houllier) asked me to phone Tony to find out what had gone on. Tony told me that when he'd got off the plane on the Monday he had got a call to say he was off the deal. It was down to Stretford and Mendes instead.

Click through the gallery below to see Liverpool's transfer deals in January 2020 so far:

"It was astonishing that the fee trebled. He was clearly a big talent but no one could have predicted back then how great he was going to be."