BARCELONA’s president has refused to deny reports linking the club to a transfer for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo wants to leave Manchester United after a dismal performance last season, the club saw its worst ever Eredivisie campaign.
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While a number of clubs have been linked to the legendary attackerso far there has been no movement.
However, reports had indicated Barcelona queued for a shock transfer for Ronaldo before signing Robert Lewandowski.
And club chef John Laporta couldn’t deny the rumors of talks between him and Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes.
He told CBS Sports: “These kinds of stories are all in the process of the summer window. There is always a lot of news coming out. But in the end, the truth is that we wanted Lewandowski.
“We have a very good relationship with Jorge Mendes. I have known him for a long time. He is one of the best players’ agents.”
“He knows how to do his job and I respect him. In this case we decided to go for Lewandowski and knew he was crucial to our success.”
“So we went to Bayern (Munich) instead. This is the reality.
“The other (Ronaldo) topic is just part of the ‘little history’ of football. It’s a very nice story, but you will always hear a lot of conflicting news about it.”
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The ties come despite Ronaldo’s ties to Real Madrid, the Blaugrana’s bitter La Liga rival, where he spent nine years of his career, breaking the club’s scoring record in the process.
Pressing further on the rumours, Laporta insisted that Lewandowski was always the club’s main target and expressed his admiration for Ronaldo’s “ambition and competitiveness”.
Ronaldo scored 24 times for Man Utd last season, beating United’s next best goalscorer, Bruno Fernandes, by 14.
The 37-year-old has confirmed he will play in United’s friendly against Rayo Vallecano tomorrow.