DBasia.news – Liverpool is rumored to be one of the teams most likely to sign Cristiano Ronaldo in 2003. Unfortunately, the Portuguese striker prefered to join their rival, Manchester United.
When he was 18 years old and strengthened Sporting CP, Cristiano Ronaldo’s talent had been heard in a number of elite European teams. Barcelona, Juventus, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Liverpool are a line of teams that were monitoring CR7.
Interestingly, Liverpool had thought they had completed Ronaldo’s transfer of 4 million pounds. This value is fairly low if you look at what Ronaldo is able to provide in the future.
Liverpool assistant manager, Phil Thompson, claimed to have held a dinner with football agent, Tony Henry, in Portugal.
“I still remember Tony’s exact words. It was all very nice and relaxing. His value is 4 million pounds and can be paid for four years on a contract. So, one year is only 1 million pounds,” Thompson told The Athletic.
“That makes a lot of sense. Then, I asked about the salary and Tony told me if it reached 1 million euros net per year,” he continued.
Despite objections to Ronaldo’s demands for wages, the manager, Gerard Houllier, was adamant in completing the transfer. He was impressed with what Ronaldo had displayed at the Toulon tournament. The Reds were confident they could close the deal.
However, a surprise occurred. Through news on television, Liverpool learned that Ronaldo had been hijacked by Manchester United.
“On Tuesday morning, we were eating at the training ground and it appeared on the news classifieds on Sky Sports that Manchester United signed Cristiano Ronaldo for 12.2 million pounds,” Thompson said.
“Gerard Houllier and I almost choked on our food. I remember Gerard Houllier jumping up and saying: ‘What happened there?’” Thompson continued.
Now, Liverpool must again see Cristiano Ronaldo join Manchester United for the second time. Ronaldo chose to return to Old Trafford after leaving Juventus. So far, the 36-year-old striker has scored five goals in six games.