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  • 10/07/2025
Ronaldinho almost signed for Manchester United before Barcelona swooped in and changed football history forever
Transcript
00:00In 2003, Manchester United were just 48 hours away from signing Ronaldinho.
00:05He had agreed, PSG had accepted, even a squad number was already decided.
00:10But then, after the done deal was supposed to be done, Barcelona came in with a phone call.
00:15David Beckham had just left Manchester United and Ferkey was dying for some of that flair, creativity and pure footballing brilliance.
00:23And Ronaldinho was that guy, United thought they had him in the bag.
00:26He was given the promise of being the poster boy of Camp Nou and being a significant part of the new era of Barcelona's rebuild.
00:33Paul Scholes even said we were just days away from announcing him.
00:36And Ronaldinho became that Barcelona icon.
00:39From Champions Leagues to Ballon d'Ors, he was one of the most influential footballers of all time, undisputed.
00:45As for Manchester United, well, they signed a skinny kid from Portugal going by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo.
00:51Just like that, two superstars and game changers for the international game were born and just from a transfer that got hijacked.
00:59So the Premier League was this close to being able to see Ronaldinho, but instead they got to see Cristiano Ronaldo.
01:05That has to be one of the craziest footballing stories of all time.
01:09And once we'll see you in the next video it was the first time.
01:11We'll see you in the next video in the next video.
01:15And the next time.

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