Legendary former Inter and Barcelona forward Luis Suarez has revealed that he recommended current Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo to the Nerazzurri in the summer of 2003, but that they did not move fast enough to sign the Portuguese.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster TeleLombardia, Suarez explained that he was very keen on Ronaldo during his early years and that he had brought up the player’s name with his former club.
Ronaldo burst onto the scene at an early age with Sporting CP, and it was clear that the young forward had real quality if not obvious that he would go on to establish himself as one of the best players of his generation over his time with United, Real Madrid, and Juventus.
It was United who won the race for Ronaldo’s signature at the time, but Suarez had pushed for the Nerazzurri to try and snap up a young Ronaldo.
“Inter didn’t push hard enough to sign him when he was 17,” the legendary former forward said. “I went to watch him because a Portuguese friend of mine called me – he had been impressing in their youth team.”
“Above all, I noticed the fact that everyone was fouling him,” he said of his first impression of Ronaldo, “which means that a player is good.”
“I went to watch him again,” he continued, “he did well again – he had to be signed. But then Inter didn’t push to sign him and instead waited – then they also sent [former Sporting Director Marco] Branca to see him.”
“Then Sporting came to play with Inter,” Suarez continued, “he played five minutes and it wasn’t enough. Then he played a game in Vigo but still nothing.”
“Then Oriali arrived after two years as a director and told me to call Jorge Mendes,” he explained, “it seemed too late but I called him. Sporting, however, made an agreement with United for a friendly.”
“All the English players told Ferguson to sign him and they did,” he added.
“It was a bargain in those days,” he noted, “it cost them virtually nothing, you could get it done for €500,000.”
