Ronaldo was almost back in red, black and white
Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Juventus in the summer just gone came as a shock to us all. He was becoming the boy who cried speculation. So often had he tricked Real Madrid into offering him an improved contract, that eventually they granted his wish and actually sold him.
It's not going too badly for him in Serie A though; Juventus are top and he is scoring goals for fun, just as he has done for the past decade. But it could have been very different.
Former AC Milan director Massimiliano Mirabelli has claimed that the San Siro club could have signed the Portuguese forward.
Mirabelli was Milan director during the Yonghong Li era, and revealed to
TeleLombardia that "that there was the possibility of signing Cristiano Ronaldo."
"I confirm what I said, that there was the possibility of signing Cristiano Ronaldo. We weren’t kidding ourselves: I can assure you that if the current owners had been in charge at the time, at this precise moment Cristiano Ronaldo would be wearing the Milan jersey. I can mathematically guarantee it," Mirabelli claimed.
“He didn’t mind not playing in the Champions League. He told us: ‘I’ve never won the Europa League, so I’ll win that too.'"
“I sat down with his agent and my part of the deal was finished, everything had been defined, including the salary and the price of the transfer. I had no fear of anything going wrong, because when Silvio Berlusconi sold Milan to the Chinese group, he told us of a great man, with great lawyers and great banks behind him. Berlusconi said they would be able to do for Milan what he no longer could."
Mirabelli also claimed that Milan had a deal in place to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund, before the Gabonese international joined Arsenal.
“All the players we signed were paid for. We also had Aubameyang and he wanted us. The regret is that we had a deal with him and Borussia Dortmund, but his father got in the way.
“When I was negotiating for Aubameyang, Vincenzo Montella’s first choice was Nikola Kalinic and I had to follow the instructions of my Coach. Before leaving, we spoke to Alvaro Morata, Ciro Immobile, Karim Benzema and started the negotiations with Gonzalo Higuain, getting him to speak to Gennaro Gattuso.
“With Andre Silva, we knew this was an important player and we’d have to wait for him, because he was from Portugal and arriving in an important club. In a few years, he’ll be one of the best in the world. If Sevilla buy him, Milan will still make a €15m profit.”
