Ronaldinho was a great teacher for Lionel Messi. The Brazilian nurtured the Argentine from a young age at Barcelona, and the current club captain grew a lot under his tutelage.
But that opportunity came close to not happening, had Joan Laporta followed through on a move to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
“We were about to sign Ronaldinho and Rafa Marquez,” Laporta said in a chat with Twitter account, Iniestazo. “Marquez’s people proposed Cristiano Ronaldo to us. He was at Sporting Clube at the time.
“One of his agents said that they had a player who they had sold to [Manchester] United for 19 million, but they’d sell him to us for 17 million.
