According to former Arsenal scout Ronny Rosenthal, Portuguese attacker Cristiano Ronaldo could have moved to Arsenal before his eventual move to Manchester United.
As reported by the Express, Rosenthal reveals that Ronaldo was on a list of potential signings that the Gunners could have made before he joined Manchester United in 2003.
Rosenthal said:
There are hundreds of players that if the clubs had listened… one of the ones I’ll never forget is Cristiano Ronaldo, who I saw because I was going a lot to Portugal at that time.
Ronaldo made his debut for Sporting Lisbon in August 2002, and I started watching him a month or so after that. I recommended him to Arsenal, Tottenham and others. But they didn’t follow it up.
I could have been very rich… very rich!
Read Arsenal’s verdict
Ronaldo is now one of world football’s true superstars after spells with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.
But, could his greatness have started with Arsenal?
The Gunners were in their peak under Arsene Wenger at the time, so surely Ronaldo would have made them a better team.
However, he was still a raw talent back then, so he would have had to do a lot to get into the team ahead of the some of the superstars within the Arsenal ranks.
Still though, it does look like an opportunity lost.
