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Ronaldo almost signed for Arsenal ahead of United

Sir Alex Ferguson was the influential source in getting Cristiano Ronaldo to sign for Manchester United © Getty Images

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Arsenal appeared to be ahead of Manchester United in the queue to sign Cristiano Ronaldo but the cost of their move to the Emirates Stadium appeared to scupper any deal, according to a new biography of agent Jorge Mendes.

Ronaldo was just 17 when Arsene Wenger made his move to bring the Portuguese winger to north London, with one of the rising stars of European football impressing during a week-long trial as he plotted his move away from Sporting Lisbon.

The comments from Mendes are printed in a new book being released with his approval and support and suggest that Arsenal and the now departed vice-chairman David Dein were initially ahead of United in the chase to sign Ronaldo.

"There was a moment in which I really thought he was going to Arsenal," Mendes is quoted as saying as he reflected on Ronaldo's first major transfer.

"David Dein is a spectacular person but, with the construction of their stadium, they were left with very little money and it wasn't possible."

Ronaldo is also quoted in the book as he looks back on his flirtations with Arsenal and said: "We were travelling by car and Jorge was calling us constantly telling me to hide so no one would see me. We went to a service station and I had to hide my face. I remember back then that Jorge was going crazy, those were Jorge's craziest days."

In the end, it was Manchester United who won the race to sign Ronaldo, with Mendes suggesting the influence of Old Trafford manager Sir Alex Ferguson was crucial to a move that launched the career of one of the most successful players of the modern era.

"The only person key to everything was Alex Ferguson," added the agent, who also represents Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho. "He told me that Cristiano was going to play at least 50 percent of the games for Manchester United and that's what I wanted to hear. That's why Cristiano went to Manchester United."

Ronaldo joined United for a reported fee of just over £12 million in 2003, before emerging as one of the world's elite players and moving to Real Madrid for a world record £80m in 2009.

Earlier in the week, Wenger confirmed he narrowly missed out on signing current United star Angel Di Maria as he looked to make a move to European football.

Wenger previously stated that his failure to sign Ronaldo is "the biggest regret" of his coaching career.

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