Former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier has revealed that the Reds wage structure was the reason that Cristiano Ronaldo rejected the opportunity to play for the club.
Houllier had his eye on bringing Ronaldo to Anfield in 2003 after he was beginning to make a name for himself at Sporting Lisbon.
Houllier has since revealed that Ronaldo’s salary demands were the reason that he did not join the club. He eventually ended up joining Manchester United instead while Houllier opted to sign Australia international Harry Kewell.
Ronaldo went on to establish himself as one of the world’s best players at United before eventually moving to Real Madrid in 2009.
Houllier told the Liverpool Echo regarding Ronaldo, “I saw him 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.”
