Sir Alex Ferguson snubbed chance to sign Brazilian Ronaldo for Man Utd in 1996

Brazilian legend Ronaldo is widely regarded as one of the most talented stars to ever play the beautiful game.

He helped Brazil to the 2002 World Cup and would have surely won plenty more accolades were it not for some crippling injuries.

Ronaldo spent time with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan though never transferred to an English club.

Manchester United were offered the chance to sign the striker back in 1996, though Sir Alex Ferguson turned down the opportunity for a financial reason.

“Ronaldo’s agent asked me a little while ago if I would be interested in the player,” Ferguson wrote in A Will to Win, his diary of the 1996/97 season.

“My first reaction was to wonder why Barcelona would sell such an important player after paying £13 million for him only last July.

“The agent said that there was no problem; there was a clause in his contract which allowed him to move if an offer came in above a certain sum.

“He told me I wouldn’t even have to talk to the club. I could go straight to the Spanish FA.

“So then I asked him about money. I soon told him he was talking to the wrong guy, and that he should go and see the chairman and frighten the life out of him, not me!

“It transpired that the fee would be around $32 million, with a salary of $4 million a year. We are talking here about a £20 million transfer fee plus a pay packet of well over £2 million a year.”

Ferguson added: “Now I would love to see Ronaldo playing for Manchester United.

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    • “I have a gut feeling Old Trafford would be his kind of stage. But can you really justify that kind of outlay when you are a public company? Perhaps I could steal the Crown Jewels…

    “How would the rest of our players feel? And what if he did an Emerson and didn’t take to life in Manchester? And what guarantee would we have that the same agent wouldn’t be hawking him around again in six months’ time?”

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