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Former Manchester United director, Peter Kenyon has busted the popular myth about the saga involving Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. The Red Devils were linked with a move for both players in the summer of 2003, but missed out on the Brazilian to Barcelona and signed the now legendary Portuguese star.
The common misconception is that the English giants signed Cristiano Ronaldo as a reaction to missing out on the 2002 World Cup winner. However, Kenyon dispelled those myths on Rio Ferdinand's podcast, Rio Ferdinand Presents, saying:
“No, it wasn’t by chance. We’d done the deal for Ronaldo. We’d brought him in earlier than what we anticipated.”
The former Manchester United defender pitched in his thoughts on the situation at the time, saying:
“I always thought we didn’t get Ronaldinho. And I remember [Sir Alex Ferguson] devastated on the training ground. ‘He’s not going to come, he’s going to go Barca, think they’ve done us’. Then I didn’t hear any murmurings about anyone else. Then we go and play Sporting in the stadium, and we leave the stadium knowing we signed him. But I thought that was just reactive to that performance.”
Kenyon clarified on the situation, saying:
“Not at all. So we come off the pre-season in America, go to Sporting, you’ve got to remember this, okay it was pre-season. We’d done a deal for Ronaldo prior to that, against a lot of competition. And I was there to finish it. The plan was he would stay at Sporting for another 12 months.
“He wanted to play football and develop. Players need to play football to develop, not sit on first-team benches. And he was very clear about - he was 17, right. He still wanted to play every game, didn't he? As everyone does. But he absolutely, in the first half, wiped the floor with us and I got a call. It was Roy Keane and Giggsy that made it quite clear we’ve got to take this boy home with us.
"So we stayed and we actually renegotiated that deal so he could come to United that year. It wasn’t a reaction to Ronaldinho.”
Cristiano Ronaldo went on to become a Manchester United icon, bagging 145 goals and providing 64 assists in 346 games across two stints at the club.
What Ronaldinho said about Manchester United icon Cristiano Ronaldo
Legendary Brazilian forward, Ronaldinho said he would have liked to take to the pitch alongside Manchester United icon Cristiano Ronaldo in his career. The pair were linked with a move to Old Trafford in the summer of 2003, but the Brazilian opted to join Barcelona instead and never got the chance to play alongside the Portuguese legend.
Speaking about the situation on the AB Talks podcast/YouTube show, the 2002 World Cup winner said:
"I have played with Messi and Ronaldo for a long time. The only one I didn't play with his Cristiano. I only missed playing with Cristiano. I never played with [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [I want] to have that combination, to have that experience."
Fans will have to leave the potential combination between Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho to their imagination. The pair remain two of the most beloved figures in football, with the Brazilian bagging 198 goals and 168 assists in 553 club games, while the Manchester United legend has 763 goals and 240 assists in 1017 club games to his name.
