Ronaldo: I Nearly Joined Arsenal In 2003

With his impressive spell at Sporting Lisbon, Ronaldo insists he attracted a lot of offers from multiple European powerhouses.

Being noted for the signings of great players in the Premier League, Wenger was keen on bringing Ronaldo, the then youngster to the Premier League six years ago but missed out on the signing to Manchester United who signed the Portuguese for £12.24 million.

Revealing the genesis behind his eventual move to the Old Trafford after meeting Wenger and also visiting the London Colney Training Ground in 2003, Ronaldo in an interview with TV1 was quoted saying;

"There had been contacts with so many other teams, Valencia, for example, were one of them. I met with Arsene Wenger and was about to go to Arsenal.

"I talked to Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Inter too but after the friendly against Manchester United, who were already interested, they became even more interested and they sped up negotiations and signed me."

Having joined Manchester United, the 34-year-old in a six-year stint at Old Trafford won nine major honours including three Premier League trophies, an FA Cup and a Champions League title before joining Spanish giants Real Madrid for a world-record fee at that time of £80 million (€94 million) in 2009.

Ronaldo had a glittering career at the Santiago Bernabeu, winning three consecutive Champions League titles, two LaLiga honours and two UEFA Super Cups among other club and individual glories.

Spending nine years at Real Madrid, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner moved to Serie A champions Juventus last year.

And featuring for the first time in the Serie A, Ronaldo managed to bulge the net 21 times with eight assists in thirty-one appearances aside his 6 goals in nine Champions League fixtures, helping the Old Lady to clinch their eighth successive league title.