Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo could have joined rivals Barcelona for just £14m

BARCELONA passed up the opportunity to sign Cristiano Ronaldo before he joined Manchester United.

That’s according to former president Joan Laporta, who adds he was offered the Portuguese star for just £14million – £2m cheaper than the £16m fee paid by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2003.

Ronaldo developed into one of the world’s top players during his time at United, and Barca’s fierce rivals Real Madrid eventually signed him in 2009 for a world-record fee.

The 31-year-old has since gone on to win various trophies and individual awards, and will be looking to put Barca to the sword when the two sides meet in El Clasico this weekend.

However, things could have turned out very differently for Ronaldo had Barca decided to act – including the mouth-watering prospect of playing alongside Lionel Messi.

Laporta said: “When we arrived, we signed Ronaldinho, Rafael Marquez and Ricardo Quaresma.

“We were in a process of reconstruction. Cristiano was at Sporting CP and he was close to signing for United.

“The player’s agent, who was handling Marquez and Quaresma, said ‘I’ve got another really good player who’s called Cristiano Ronaldo’.

“We told him we knew about him and he offered him to us for two million cheaper than to United, who ended up paying 19 million [euros].”

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Ronaldo has scored an incredible 376 goals in 363 appearances during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu, and the good times are set to continue after he penned a lucrative new contract last month.

The forward also led Portugal to Euro 2016 glory in July despite limping off in the final and is believed to be a shoe-in to land this year's Ballon d'Or award ahead of Messi and Barca teammate Luis Suarez.

There had been speculation linking him with an Old Trafford return but that seems extremely unlikely given the terms of his fresh deal.