Cristiano Ronaldo joined Man Utd after 'devastated' Sir Alex Ferguson missed out on another transfer target

It was "lucky" that Manchester United signed Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer of 2003, according to Rio Ferdinand - who has opened up about the club's failed pursuit of another legendary player.

More than two decades ago, Manchester United secured the services of Ronaldo from Sporting CP, just a week after John O'Shea 'needed an oxygen tank' after coming up against the highly-rated winger in a pre-season friendly.

Rio Ferdinand joked about O'Shea getting the runaround, saying: "He was in bits and he was sitting there panting. We were telling him to get closer to Ronaldo and he couldn't even answer us."

The former United defender added: "To be fair, me, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were standing there going 'this kid's unbelievable, we've got to sign him'.

"We got on the coach and we were delayed for about an hour and a half, and then they said they were doing a deal to sign Ronaldo now."

At the time, United had recently failed in their attempts to sign Ronaldinho, who told SPORTbible in 2020 that he was "really close" to joining the Premier League club.

"I had that chance and I was really close but in the end, I decided to sign for Barcelona," he added.

According to Ferdinand, the two moments aligned, which allowed United to swoop for a player that would soon become an Old Trafford great.

"It was actually lucky that we signed him (Ronaldo) because it was only on the disappointment of not signing Ronaldinho that summer," Ferdinand said on an episode of The Obi One Podcast earlier this year.

"We tried to sign Ronaldinho, and he choose to leave Paris Saint-Germain and went to Barcelona. I remember the manager was devastated."

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Ronaldinho once claimed he was just 48 hours away from joining United.

And former Brazil international Kleberson, who spent two years at Old Trafford between 2003 and 2005, opened up about being in regular contact with the soon-to-be Barcelona forward.

"Ronaldinho told me he was going to Manchester," Kleberson told ESPN. "He kept saying to me, 'Come to Manchester!' I wanted to go, but I was reluctant because I didn't speak English and United didn't have any Portuguese speakers.

"Ronaldinho persuaded me and I went to Manchester. But he didn't."