Former "Barcelona" president Joan Gaspart revealed how in 1997 the "Inter" club managed to buy out the contract of the then Catalan superstar Ronaldo.
The fantastic Brazilian, who fit in perfectly with the Barcelona team, wreaked havoc in his debut season - scoring 47 goals in 49 matches.
However, after the 1996-1997 season, he unexpectedly moved to a "Serie A" team.
"Ronaldo wanted to stay with the 'Barcelona' team because he was happy here and wanted to extend his contract.
We had prepared a contract in front of him and his football agents, and we were already confident in our success. We decided to go for lunch and relax, and then planned to return to the office to sign the papers.
However, it was a mistake - if we had completed the formalities immediately, the player would have remained in the team," Gaspart said.
Shortly after in the restaurant, he noticed worrying signs - one agent disappeared for half an hour to talk on the phone.
"When he returned, he apologized, had a coffee, and we all went back to the office.
When we arrived at then-president Joseph Nunez's office, the agents started making demands - they ordered Ronaldo to go home until called back, and they presented new wishes to improve the financial conditions.
They attempted to disrupt the negotiations - we agreed on five points, but then came the sixth and later the seventh.
Ronaldo, with tears in his eyes, apologized to me and said that his agents had received a much better financial offer and it would be much better for both parties to separate - that way more money would be earned," the official continued.
The next day "Inter" transferred 24 million US dollars to Barcelona - that was the exact ransom amount written in the player's contract.
"Barcelona" tried to appeal to FIFA, but the arbitration ruled that the Milan team had to transfer another 3 million US dollars, and thus a record-breaking transfer fee was finally reached.
"I personally told 'Inter' president Massimo Moratti that he was wrong - it was known that we were negotiating with the player and had almost finalized the signing. Of course, he denied it, but that is a lie," Gaspart insisted.
Angry at the Catalans, they later did not even consider the possibility of Ronaldo playing for their team in 2002.
"He told me that if at that time 'Barcelona' had offered the same contract as 'Real' Madrid, he would have returned to the 'Camp Nou' stadium. However, the team would not have been able to invest a large sum of money in a player who left in that manner.
Still, Ronaldo's heart belongs more to 'Barcelona' than 'Real' because he has better memories from that period," Gaspart concluded.
