Cristiano Ronaldo, when his career is all said and done, will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest footballers in the history of the sport.
Having started out his professional career in his home country with Sporting CP, he really began to make his mark on the world stage after he was brought in by English giants Manchester United in 2003.
But his journey to greatness – in which he has won five Ballon d’Ors in his career – could have been a little different, with United rivals Liverpool fumbling the chance to sign him before his move to Old Trafford as they refused to succumb to Ronaldo’s wage demands.
Ronaldo Could Have Suited Up in a Different Shade of Red
Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier blamed the club’s wage structure for why they didn’t sign CR7

The story of Man Utd wanting to sign Ronaldo after he shone so brightly in a pre-season game against Sporting that the United players begged Sir Alex Ferguson to sign him on their plane journey home is very well documented. Of course, he would wind up arriving in Manchester just a week later, penning his signature on a contract with the club, with the Red Devils acting fast amid interest from other Premier League clubs, including Arsenal.
But, the Gunners weren’t the only side who had also been keeping close tabs on the prospect for the last year. Liverpool had been too, and they reportedly came close to signing him before that infamous pre-season match between United and Sporting, and had it not been for former Red manager Gerard Houllier being adamant that he didn’t want to break the club’s wage structure to bring in the Portuguese winger, then Ronaldo could have perhaps changed the course of his career with a move to Merseyside.
In 2017, Houllier revealed that he thought that breaking the implemented salary structure would cause wider problems in the Liverpool dressing room, though he does feel, in hindsight, that they may have won the league had they ultimately decided to sign Ronaldo.
They would instead sign Harry Kewell from Leeds United after a promising start to his career at Elland Road, but his tenure with the club would be filled with what-ifs due to the Australian’s tethered injury history plaguing his chances with the Reds. Houllier later explained:
We had a wage scale, and we weren’t paying the kind of wages he wanted…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 he got a bad injury. After that, he never had the same confidence, the same hunger.
Theatre of Dreams Was a Stepping Stone to Even Greater Heights
Ronaldo would win the Ballon d’Or in 2008 when with United, but would win four more with Real Madrid

Ronaldo would go on to have a stellar career with United, scoring 118 goals in his first spell with the club between 2003-09, before adding another 27 goals when he returned in 2021-22. In total, he would have 206 goal contributions.
Having finished as runner-up to Kaka in the 2007 Ballon d’Or voting, Ronaldo would go on to clinch the award in 2008 after a dominant display throughout the 2007-08 season, in which he would finish the Premier League campaign with 31 goals and six assists in just 34 appearances.
These numbers were also good enough for him to win the Golden Boot and the Best FIFA Men’s Player award, on his way to helping lead United to back-to-back league titles, and his first UEFA Champions League title. Upon winning the 2008 Ballon d’Or, he told the press:
“To win this award at just 23 years of age is incredible, because I only started my career a few years ago. But it is fantastic as there were a lot of other big names in the race this year such as [Lionel] Messi, [Fernando] Torres and even Xavi. All these players could have won it, but nevertheless, I’m happy to have taken it.”
Cristiano Ronaldo – Career Statistics |
|||
---|---|---|---|
Club |
Appearances |
Goals |
Assists |
Sporting CP (2002-03) |
31 |
5 |
6 |
Manchester United (2003-09, 2021-22) |
346 |
145 |
64 |
Real Madrid (2009-18) |
438 |
450 |
131 |
Juventus (2018-21) |
134 |
101 |
22 |
Al Nassr (2023-Present) |
73 |
66 |
18 |
After one more season with the Red Devils, he would earn a move to La Liga powerhouses Real Madrid, becoming just another player in a long line of Galacticos to join the club, in what was, at the time, a world record transfer worth £80 million.
There, he would flourish even more, and would finish his Madrid career winning four more Ballon d’Or, and four more Champions Leagues, along with an abundance of both team and individual accolades to his name, including scoring more goals (450) than he had appearances (438) for the side.
After admitting he felt dispensable by Madrid president Florentino Perez, Ronaldo would make the switch to Turin to play for Juventus in Serie A, and now 39 years old, he continues to fire in the goals with ease, playing his club football in the Saudi Pro League with Al Nassr.
The 2024 Ballon d’Or shortlist marks the first time since 2003 that both Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have missed out on a nomination, all but signalling that their years of dominance have come to an end, with Messi holding the title of having won the most Ballon d’Ors with eight, and Ronaldo holding the title for most ever nominations with 18 in total.
While it is very likely that Ronaldo would have found a similar level of success had he signed with Liverpool over Man Utd, his career trajectory could have gone a different way.
But fortunately for him, this move sparked a stellar career that will see him go down in footballing history as one of the greatest to ever play the beautiful game.
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt, FBRef and WhoScored.com – correct as of 16/10/2024.

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