Actualizado 12/01/2021 - 22:02

Ronaldinho was a great teacher for Lionel Messi. The Brazilian nurtured the Argentine from a young age at Barcelona, and the current club captain grew a lot under his tutelage.

But that opportunity came close to not happening, had Joan Laporta followed through on a move to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.

"We were about to sign Ronaldinho and Rafa Marquez," Laporta said in a chat with Twitter account, Iniestazo. "Marquez's people proposed Cristiano Ronaldo to us. He was at Sporting Clube at the time.

"One of his agents said that they had a player who they had sold to [Manchester] United for 19 million, but they'd sell him to us for 17 million.

"But we had already invested in Ronaldinho at the time. Cristiano played more out wide than in the centre. We thought we were covered, so we rejected him and I don't regret it."

Modern football might be completely different had Laporta signed Cristiano.