Liverpool Nearly Signed Cristiano Ronaldo, Says Former Manager Gerard Houllier

Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier has revealed he was prevented from signing Cristiano Ronaldo in 2003 because of the Anfield outfit's wage structure. 

The Frenchman said he felt the Liverpool dressing room could have been adversely affected if the 18-year-old Ronaldo's wage demands were met, while he was confident at the time in new signing Harry Kewell's abilities, per Paul Gorst in the Liverpool Echo:

"I saw [Ronaldo] in the Toulon under-21 tournament and we went for him. But we had a wage scale and we weren't paying the sort of salary he wanted. Then Manchester United played a friendly against Sporting Lisbon and all their boys said to Sir Alex Ferguson: 'You have to sign him'. But I agreed with not breaking the wage structure. I thought it would cause problems in our dressing room.

"Maybe we would have won the title with Ronaldo, but we had Harry Kewell, who was outstanding at the time and was very hungry but got a bad injury. After that, he never had the same confidence, the same appetite."

Ronaldo signed for Sir Alex Ferguson's United for £12.24 million in August 2003.

He went on to win three Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League and his first Ballon d'Or with the Red Devils before moving to Real Madrid for a then-world record £80 million fee in 2009.

At the Santiago Bernabeu, Ronaldo has cemented his reputation as one of football's greatest players, winning La Liga twice, three more Champions Leagues and the Ballon d'Or three more times.

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Ronaldo came into his own at United from the 2006-07 season, and his final three campaigns with the Manchester outfit were fruitful.

In the 2008-09 season, a Liverpool squad that included Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso finished second in the Premier League, four points behind champions United. 

Had Ronaldo been a Liverpool rather than United player during that campaign, the Reds could have secured a first English top-flight title since 1990, a triumph that still eludes the Anfield club. 

Kewell endured five injury-plagued seasons at Anfield and was released by the club when his contract expired in 2008.

Ronaldo, now 32, netted 118 goals for United in 292 appearances and has gone on to break Real's goalscoring record, netting more than 400 times for the Spanish giants.