Arsenal were close to beating Manchester United to the signing of a young Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon, but did not have the money to complete the deal for the Real Madrid superstar, the club's former scout has revealed.
Damien Comolli worked for seven years as a scout for Arsenal from 1996 during which time he spotted the potential of Ronaldo, now 31, at Sporting.
The fledgling talent from Madeira even came to the Gunners' training facility at London Colney and was awed to meet his then-hero, Thierry Henry, as the club attempted to sign him.
Though those methods appeared to work, however, Arsenal were not willing to meet Sporting's asking price and the player moved to Old Trafford a few months later for £12.24 million.
"He came to the training ground twice. No-one knows that," Comolli, who was also Tottenham Hotspur's director of football between 2005 and 2008, told RMC. "He met Thierry [Henry], who was his idol. And when it came to the transfer, we didn't have the money.
"A few months after, Manchester United had a partnership with Sporting, played a friendly in Lisbon. He killed them and Sir Alex Ferguson said, 'He has to go to United, he's coming home with us.'"