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Wenger: I Almost Signed €100m Real Madrid Superstar

By on September 18, 2014

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has admitted that his biggest regret in football was missing out on Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United back in 2003.

The boss has been speaking to Arsenal’s new official smartphone sponsor, Huawei, when he was asked what his biggest regret in football was.

Without hesitation, Arsene admitted that it was when he was close to signing then 18-year-old Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon before seeing him opt for a move to Old Trafford, and the snub still hurts the Frenchman to this day.

‘My biggest regret, I was so close, to signing Cristiano Ronaldo, and not only did I not get him he signed for Manchester United, so that of course still hurts today.’ source: Daily Mail

It’s believed that Ronaldo was shown around Arsenal’s training facilities and was even assigned a shirt number, but United trumped us at the last minute after Fergie’s former assistant Carlos Queiroz persuaded his Portuguese compatriot to join United instead.

Obviously Ronaldo went on to become a world class player at Old Trafford before earning a €100m move to Real Madrid in 2009, so it’s easy to see why Arsene is still cut up about missing out on him.

However, he’s not the first player we regret missing out on and he won’t be the last. Let’s hope we don’t regret not signing William Carvalho at the end of the season any more than we already do!

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