Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that Serie A sides Inter Milan and Juventus were both keen on signing him while he was still a teenager.
The Portuguese sensation left Sporting in 2003 to move to Manchester United, where Ronaldo developed into one of the world’s best talents.
He went on to join Real Madrid six years later for a then-world-record transfer fee.
As an immensely talented youngster, Ronaldo was not short of options with a host of European clubs chasing his signature, and the 31-year-old has now admitted that Juventus and Inter Milan were among the chasing pack.
However, the Real Madrid forward has stated that his desire to go to Manchester United meant he turned down the approaches from Italy.
Ronaldo told Gazzetta Dello Sport: “Both Inter and Juventus wanted to give me an opportunity to play for them.
“But my dream was to play in Manchester and that’s where I went.”
The Real Madrid man also talked up Serie A, saying that the Italian top- flight is making great strides to becoming one of Europe’s best divisions again, having fallen behind the Premier League and La Liga after the corruption scandal hit in 2006.
Ronaldo added: “You have a demanding league, which is coming back to the top level after suffering a tarnished reputation. The teams have got very good players and standard has got much higher in recent times.
“This is also good for Europe as well because there are now more competitive squads in the Champions League.”
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