Could Proposed Cristiano Ronaldo Transfer to Barcelona Ever Happen?

Former and potential future Barcelona president Joan Laporta would love to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to the Camp Nou, but the operation seems too hard to pull off.

The Real Madrid striker has come close to joining Barcelona before, but now there is so much bad blood in the situation, it is hard to imagine it happening.

The story comes from a lunch meeting between Laporta and Ronaldo's representative, Jorge Mendes, which took place on Thursday.

Radio station Cadena Ser's El Larguero programme (h/t AS) explained that Laporta had enquired about bringing Ronaldo to Barcelona.

Laporta wants to be re-elected as Barcelona president next year and is currently leading the race, according to an Amber survey, per AS.

He has 33.8 per cent of the vote, while Agusti Benedito has 23.9 per cent. Incumbent president Josep Maria Bartomeu has only 17.9 per cent, with the rest of those polled undecided.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

When presidential candidates are jostling for position ahead of an election, big claims and aims always seem to leak out.

We've already seen a claim that Barcelona may try to appoint Chelsea's Jose Mourinho as manager if Laporta takes over, per Metro.

Back in 2003, Goal.com remind us that Laporta promised the club David Beckham, and we all know that didn't happen.

Mentioning big names is a way for presidential candidates to create excitement. Whenever their name is mentioned, there's an adrenaline rush, even if it's based on unrealistic pledges or targets.

Let's say that Laporta was deadly serious about bringing Ronaldo to Barcelona, should he be elected.

What obstacles would stand in his way?

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

The price of the deal would be an issue. Real Madrid might let Ronaldo go to Manchester United at the right price, but there's no way they'd ever sell him to Barcelona unless their hand was forced.

Barcelona could do that by getting Ronaldo to trigger his transfer release clause (which Mendes claims is €1 billion, per Sky Sports) but for the Portugal star to even consider doing that, there would have to be a seriously good reason to leave.

The Catalan giants being the dominant side in Spanish football probably wouldn't be enough justification. It would have to coincide with trouble at Real Madrid of some severe kind.

As long as Madrid are still in the Champions League, Ronaldo will see no reason to leave, least of all to Barcelona.

He will want to protect his legacy and go down as Madrid's greatest-ever player, or at least try to.

Ronaldo's sponsors, Nike, would be happy with a switch to Barcelona. The company, who work with the Catalan side, may even be willing to help fund part of the deal.

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Back in 2003, Barcelona could have signed Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon but opted for Ricardo Quaresma instead.

Laporta told Onda Cero (h/t the Daily Mail):

"

We could have got Ronaldo for a lower price than Manchester United eventually paid for him. However, we had just signed Ronaldinho, Ricardo Quaresma and Rafael Marquez, and we lacked the financial resources to make another signing.

"

The relationship between Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi might be a problem, too, both in a personal sense and in a clash of brands.

Messi is an Adidas boy, while Ronaldo is Nike. Both those brands will need their man to be the head of the team and the star player.

Even if the will to bring Ronaldo to Barcelona was there, even if the money to do such a thing existed, there is just too much in the way of a potential transfer for it to happen.