Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger met Ronaldo three times.
Ronaldo said: “I came within a whisker of doing it. Wenger is someone I respect a lot. He is very intelligent.”
Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo’s agent, added: “That is what happened. Everyone wanted Cristiano — Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona.
“But only Arsenal and Manchester United attempted to take him from that season. The others wanted to leave him at Sporting at least a year.”
