FC Barcelona – La Liga Would he have had the same career?
R.onaldinho was a great teacher for that Lionel Messi. The Brazilian fed the Argentinian from an early age Barcelona, and the club’s current captain grew much under his tutelage.
But that chance almost never happened Joan Laporta followed by a move to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
“We were about to sign Ronaldinho and Rafa Marquez,” Laporta said in a chat with Twitter account Iniestazo. “The people at Marquez introduced us to Cristiano Ronaldo. He was with Sporting Clube at the time.
“One of his brokers said they had a player they sold to [Manchester] United for 19 million, but they would sell him to us for 17 million.
“But we already invested in Ronaldinho by then. Cristiano played more wide than in the center. We thought we were covered, so we turned him down and I don’t regret it.”
Modern football could be very different if Laporta had contracted Cristiano.