Cristiano Ronaldo has confirmed that he held talks with Inter prior to his move to Manchester United back in 2003 in a long interview with Portuguese television station TVI.

“There had been contacts with so many other teams, Valencia for example were one of them,” the 34-year-old began.

“I met with Arsene Wenger and was about to go to Arsenal. I talked to Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter too but after the friendly against Manchester United, who were already interested, they became even more interested and they sped up  negotiations and signed me.”

The multi-time world player of the year, joined the Red Devils in a 17 million deal from Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon and would then move on to Real Madrid in 2009 for a then world record fee before joining current employers Juventus last Summer in a €100 million deal.

In his debut campaign in Italy, Ronaldo scored 28 goals in 43 matches across all competitions.