Massimo Moratti has revealed Inter made an approach to sign Brazil legend Pele when he was 17.
Pele is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time and is well known for his sensational scoring record during his career, which he spent almost entirely at Santos.
The three-time World Cup winner also had a stint in the United States with the New York Cosmos – but as per Moratti, whose father Angelo owned the club at the time, Pele might have ended up at Inter.
“We approached Pele in 1958, just before the FIFA World Cup in Sweden,” Moratti explained in an interview with Sky Sport Italia, as part of a show dedicated to Inter’s legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldo.
“The president of Santos said yes, but when we had to close the deal he called and said: ‘Look, they burned our headquarters, I don’t know what to do anymore…’
“My father rightly told him not to worry and that life was involved here.”
Pele would go on to announce himself to the world at that year’s FIFA World Cup, despite only being aged 17 at the time.
He scored six goals in the tournament as Brazil became world champions for the first time, including two in the final against Sweden.
