Ronaldinho at Man Utd?! Barcelona legend was primary transfer target for Sir Alex Ferguson as ex-Red Devils coach reveals Scot would've tolerated Brazilian's 'superstar' status to get chance to manage him

Ronaldinho is one of the greatest players of all-time, cementing his place in the upper echelons of the game while destroying defences as a Barcelona and Brazil player. However, the 2005 Ballon d'Or winner could have signed for Manchester United, with former Red Devils first team coach Rene Meulesteen revealing that legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson was keen to bring Ronaldinho to the club.

Indeed, Ferguson tried everything in his power to lure Ronaldinho to Old Trafford in 2003, while he was still contracted to Paris Saint-Germain. Several former players have revealed that the club were close to announcing his transfer, but the Brazilian changed his mind last minute and signed for Barcelona. Subsequently, Man Utd signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting CP after being snubbed by the iconic attacking midfielder.

Speaking to ex-Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel on The Obi One podcast, Rio Ferdinand said: "I remember when Cristiano Ronaldo signed we went on tour to Lisbon and he was actually lucky that we signed him. It was only on the disappointment of not signing Ronaldinho that summer.

"I remember we were going to sign Ronaldinho but he chose to leave PSG for Barcelona. The manager was absolutely devastated. Then on the tour, he went to Sporting Lisbon to open the stadium, Cristiano Ronaldo plays and the rest is history."

Speaking to Poker Firma, Meulensteen spoke about Ferguson's interest in the Brazilian legend: “After I joined the club in the 2000s, I do believe Sir Alex was really keen on signing Ronaldinho from Barcelona. He was absolutely exceptional during his time in Spain and he would have brought that superstar element with him to the club, which I don’t think Sir Alex would have minded as long as he was able to manage him."

Ronaldinho is said to have brought more than 20 people into face-to-face negotiations with United in 2003, before eventually deciding on a move to Barcelona instead. Former Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon shed light on why the deal fell through, telling the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast: "Normally, in these cases, you're dealing with the player and his agent. Here, we're dealing with the player, several agents and about 20 other people in the room. He's a great player, but suddenly we're into a whole different thing.

"Injecting that sort of culture around training, not normally on time, which is different. The Brazilian health culture is different. Fantastic player, but there are all sorts of other things that started to get introduced into all this, and he was clearly coming with a load of people. You know what United was like at that time. It was an institution, no one got treated differently than the rest."