Barcelona could have signed Cristiano Ronaldo for peanuts, reveals former club president

The first El Clasico of the season is nearly upon us and, surprise, surprise, Cristiano Ronaldo is in the news ahead of it.

According to a former Barcelona president, the Portuguese superstar - the man whose 2009 arrival at Real Madrid helped slow the dominance of the Lionel Messi-inspired Catalans - could have been a Barca player. Joan Laporta has claimed that Barca had the chance to sign Ronaldo before his move to Manchester United in 2003, report Marca. "We were in a process of rebuilding everything," he explains.  "I was at Sporting Club de Portugal talking to his agent [Jorge Mendes] who wanted to sell Deco to us. "We had already signed Ronaldinho, Rafael Marquez and Ricardo Quaresma so we weren't able to spend that much. But he told us that he had another very good player. It was Ronaldo. "He had a deal with United for 19m euros but we were offered him for 17m euros." Ronaldo went on to become one of the greatest players on the planet in Manchester before arriving in Madrid six years later. Somewhere, in a parallel universe, we like to imagine Ronaldo did move Barca to play alongside Ronaldinho and Messi, leaving Real Madrid to make that loan move for Julien Faubert permanent... https://twitter.com/madrid_players/status/804316632306679808 How different things might have been...