© E. Žaldario/LFF
In the past, the "Barcelona" team was very close to acquiring Cristiano Ronaldo. This possibility was mentioned to the press by the candidate for the presidency of the Catalan club, Joanas Laporta, who in the past also held similar positions at a "La Liga" team. "In 2003, we bought Ronaldinho and Rafa Marquez. At that time, representatives of the Mexican urged us to also acquire the Lisbon "Sporting" forward Cristiano Ronaldo. One of Rafa's agents said that they had a player for whom "Man Utd" planned to pay 19 million euros, while "Barca" could acquire the Portuguese for 17 million euros. However, at that time we had invested in Ronaldinho, and Ronaldo played wider than just at the center. We thought we had covered all the weak spots on the field, so we declined. Now I do not regret such a decision," said J. Laporta.
