Arsene Wenger had his heart set on signing Cristiano Ronaldo back in 2003, but the Arsenal legend’s request was denied due to financial considerations.
What do Clarence Seedorf, Didier Drogba, Kylian Mbappe and Ronaldo have in common? Wenger wanted to sign all of them at Arsenal during his tenure.
The legendary former manager delivered an array of Arsenal icons during his time in North London, but he also missed out on some greats, including Ronaldo.
When Manchester United signed 18-year-old Ronaldo from Sporting CP back in 2003, few anticipated what he would go on to do, but Wenger did, which made the move all the more painful.
Would Arsenal have already won the Champions League if Arsene Wenger signed Kylian Mbappe?
Arsenal rejected Arsene Wenger’s plea to sign Cristiano Ronaldo due to money
The £12.24m Man United paid to sign Ronaldo that year turned out to be one of the biggest bargains of football history.
Looking back, it’s a marginal fee to pay for a player who was destined for greatness, but to Arsenal, it was simply too much.
Speaking on the SACKED! podcast, journalist John Cross shared an insight into why Arsenal were unable to get a deal for Ronaldo done at the time.
“I’ll tell this story about them [Arsenal] tracking Ronaldo, they were desperate to sign Cristiano Ronaldo,” he began.
“They sought Ronaldo for so long and basically really went for him and basically, you know, Wenger took it to the board and basically said, ‘We really need to sign this kid’.”
If Arsenal could sign one player past or present in his prime, who would you want it to be and why?
Despite Wenger’s desire, the boss was ultimately left frustrated.
“The decision was taken, you know, Wenger was clearly frustrated, but ultimately accepted that basically you couldn’t spend on, you know, whatever small a sum it was, on this player because it was a gamble on a kid basically because of the financial constraints.”
Cross added that, despite the masses believing that Ronaldo was always destined for Man United, Arsenal had a different perspective on the matter.
“Their [Arsenal’s] perspective was that they could have got the player in the building because they felt as if they had that connection, they’d done the groundwork, but ultimately couldn’t afford the relatively small transfer fee at the time to get Ronaldo.”
What Cristiano Ronaldo said about nearly joining Arsenal
In Wenger’s eyes, Ronaldo was one that got away, and even the player himself knew it.
Years down the line, in an interview with France Football, as relayed by The Guardian, Ronaldo admitted that he was very close to joining Arsenal before signing for Man United.
“I was within an inch of [joining Arsenal], I have a lot of respect for Arsene Wenger, he is a very clever man.”
The transfer might not have happened, but the mutual respect is there, and even as an opponent to the Gunners, Arsenal still have their fair share of memories of Ronaldo, just not in the way they once hoped.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
