The reason why Cristiano Ronaldo rejected Barcelona’s proposal

The reason why Cristiano Ronaldo turned down the proposal offered by Barcelona in 2008 to sign for the club.

For the last few years, all football fans have had the opportunity to witness two of the greatest ever players play in the El Clasico. What Cristiano Ronaldo has achieved in his nine-year spell at Real Madrid and what Lionel Messi has achieved so far in his career with Barcelona is beyond belief.

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However, there was a slight possibility back in 2009 for Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to be teammates at Barcelona before the former Manchester United winger turned down the transfer offer. What could have been!

There were rumours that when the Portuguese winger was going up the ranks at Sporting Clube de Portugal, several clubs had shown interest in signing the scrawny teenager. Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal, and even Barcelona were keen on snatching the player from Portugal as soon as possible.

However, Sir Alex Ferguson convinced Jorge Mendes that his client would get plenty of game time to grow as a player at Old Trafford and that was more than enough for Cristiano Ronaldo to sign for the Red Devils. The 18-year-old winger was given the sacred number 7 of Manchester United that was previously worn by David Beckham, Eric Cantona, and George Best.

The Portuguese became a world-class player under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson and was awarded the Balon D’or by Pele himself in 2008. In his six-year spell at England, Ronaldo won the Premier League thrice and the Champions League once in 2008 against Chelsea in the city of Moscow.

Six years down the line, the former Real Madrid winger handed in a transfer request as it was his dream to play for Real Madrid. In 2009, Manchester United confirmed that he has been sold to Real Madrid for a world record fee making him the most expensive player of all time. During his nine-year spell at the Santiago Bernabeu, Cristiano Ronaldo won the Balon’ D and the Champions League four times each. After nine successful trophy-laden years at Madrid, the 5 time Balon D’or winner signed for Juventus.

However, Don Balon claims that Cristiano Ronaldo’s career could have been completely different had he accepted the offer from Barcelona in 2008. Pep Guardiola admired the former Manchester United forward and wanted him to pair up with Lionel Messi upfront in 2008.

It was Cristiano Ronaldo that turned down the proposal offered by Barcelona since he had already given his word to Ramon Calderon that he would wear the Real Madrid jersey in the following year.

It would have been a dream come true for every football fan in the world two watch the two greatest ever players to play in the same team.