'Absolutely wrong': Former Manchester United chief executive reveals truth behind Ronaldinho's failed transfer following David Beckham's departure
Peter Kenyon has revealed the truth about Man United's failed move for Ronaldinho, saying it was NOT due to a financial issue.
The Red Devils were chasing the Brazilian legend in the summer of 2003, after he became a global superstar thanks to his performances in Paris Saint Germain and Brazil.
Man United were already looking for a big-name signing after losing David Beckham to real Madridwhile the signing of a young christian ronaldo of Sporting Lisbon was already in process, regardless of what happened with ronaldinho.
speaking in Rio Ferdinand presents on YouTube, Kenyon said of the Brazilian star: “We pursued him hard. We watched him carefully.”
Kenyon was then put to the theory that Manchester United had lowered their offer at the last minute, to which he replied: “Absolutely wrong. This was the same as any other transfer.”
“Alex (Ferguson) would be involved in it. Critical decisions, why he would want it, where he would want it, where he would play, etc. So Alex was involved all the way.”
Explaining why the Ronaldinho deal fell through, Kenyon said: “Normally in these cases you deal with the player and his agent.
“Here we are dealing with the player, several agents and about 20 other people in the room. He is a great player, but suddenly we find ourselves in something completely different.
'Injecting that kind of culture around training, usually not on time, which is different. The Brazilian health culture, different. Fantastic player, but there were all kinds of other things that started to creep into all of this, and it clearly came with a lot of people.
“You know what United were like at that time. “It was an institution, no one was treated differently than the rest.”
Kenyon continued: “This started to become a bigger issue than money,” Kenyon explained.
“In a way we reached an agreement with the club, we reached an agreement with the player, but we came back and said 'at the end of the day, I don't think this (is going to work).'
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“David had just moved on and some of that noise was in the environment.”
Ronaldinho joined Barcelona for £30 million that summer, becoming the best player in the world during his time at Camp Nou.
He went on to score 94 goals and provide 71 assists in 207 appearances over five seasons with Barcelona, winning two LaLiga titles and a Champions League along the way.
It was during this time that he was also crowned the Ballon d'Or winner in 2005, as well as winning the FIFPro World Player of the Year award in 2005 and 2006.
He then spent three years with AC Milan before returning to Brazil in 2011, also scoring 33 goals in 97 appearances for his country.
