When Manchester United Almost Signed Ronaldinho

In the summer of 2003 Manchester United wanted Ronaldinho to replace the Real Madrid-bound David Beckham. But the deal didn't go through, United instead signed an up-and-coming Portuguese winger instead.

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[BigMelvinHarrisSmoke]

That Cristiano Ronaldo guy did a pretty good job of being a back up transfer for Ronaldinho

[bababababababa]

This was a blessing in disguise for both Barca and United 😂

[Walshy]

It's mental that missing out on prime Ronaldinho turned out to be an absolute masterstroke of good fortune for United

[paweborkowski]

SAF: we didn't get Ronaldinho, what do we do now?
Scout: let's get someone with a similar name and tell the public there was a mistranslation
SAF: but who?
Scout: Ronaldo.
SAF: we can't afford him
Scout: no, no, there's this kid in Portugal...

[aravindulgent]

Imagine if ManU got Ronaldinho, and that caused Barca to get Cristiano...

[leobestbote]

So in retrospect, Ronaldo would have gone to Arsenal(since Wenger even tried to sign him) and the history of United and Arsenal would have been very different

[isaacbrooks]

It's even more interesting when you consider that Ronaldinho turned into one of Messi's mentors. Maybe we don't get Messi and CR7 if Ronaldinho goes to Manchester 🤯

[duyduc]

If Man Utd were to sign Ronaldinho it would've been a disaster. SAF would be annoyed by Ronaldinho's antics and would probably force a move.

[Pinkmeaner]

"So I know we didn't get our top target but listen...So theres this kid from Lisbon"

*And the rest is history

[OLD-ACCOUNT]

That would have changed Man United no doubt.

[vishavkishore]

The replacement didn't turn out too bad eh

[lvlup]

How couple of transfers can change history of whole Sport...

[notKevinFeige]

As a brasilean i can safely say, Ronaldinho was never going to England.
He likes the joy living(mostly partying) too much and that is reflective on his footballl

[tomben]

I remember being at the first game at the new “City of Manchester” stadium, as it was known when it opened, playing Barcelona in a friendly. Ronaldinho had just snubbed Utd for Barca and he got the biggest cheer and round of applause all day 😂

[sususegar]

I remember reading the rumours on the newspaper. I doubt it was ever gonna happen, there weren't too many Brazilians in the PL back in those days, usually because of the English game and weather back in those days. The Serie A and La Liga was a better standard and had more money then.

[Moegara-vwnz]

Had Ronaldinho come to united i can't see him would click in a long time with saf, especially how hard he is going partying, getting the raw Ronaldo is the best thing that happened for saf and united

[jrhffut]

Imagine Ronaldinho went to United and Ronaldo went to Barca, we would see messi and Ronaldo play together and grow together.

[WOOOPdoctorFROGhere]

it's funny that Beckham's transfer kicked off the musical chairs for all 3 clubs bringing in a player, Beckham was the biggest profile transfer of the three but it turned out to be the worst transfer of the three. On the pitch at least. Perez was probably delighted with the marketing opportunities.

[tedjarman]

So we could've POTENTIALLY seen CR7 and Messi on the SAME TEAM, if Ronaldinho ended up going to Man U

[cradlelist]

Honestly think Ronaldinho could not make it too long under Sir Alex given the level of discipline Sir Alex demands of his players. Ronaldo did a pretty good job though