Barcelona were offered Cristiano Ronaldo for €17 million, reveals Joan Laporta

Ronaldo is one of the best footballers of all time and his association with Real Madrid has lasted seven years and brought countless awards for the player and team.

His presence at Real has also coincided with Lionel Messi's rise at Barcelona, with the two regularly facing off to see who is the world's best player.

However according to Laporta, who was speaking in an interview with Marca, it could have all been so different.

In 2003, when the club were trying to sign Deco, the player's agent also offered them Ronaldo, who at the time was subject of a bid from United.

"We had signed Ronaldinho, [Rafael] Marquez and [Ricardo] Quaresma," Laporta said.

"We were in a process of reconstruction throughout the whole club. [Ronaldo] was at Sporting at the time, before Manchester United, and we were speaking with his agent who wanted to sell us Deco.

"We said that we couldn't because we weren't able to [spend that much at the time], so he told us he had another really good kid.

"It was Ronaldo. He had a deal with United for €19 million, but we were offered him for €17m."

Ronaldo went on to great success with United before breaking the world transfer record when signing for Real.

The Portuguese has scored 376 goals in 363 games for Real since joining, as well as scoring 68 goals for his country.

However it was no surprise to see Laporte come down on the side of Messi in the debate over who is better, adding that he thinks the forward will stay with the club moving forward."I think [Lionel Messi] is the best player in the history of football,

"There are others with great quality, but Leo is above the rest. He has natural talent, goals, he's a leader... he has it all. And on top of that, he's humble with it.

"He will be one of those players that spends their whole life at Barcelona, it's what we want. We'll ask Santa for Messi to renew.

"What all Barca fans want is for him to stay. As is normal for the best player in the world, though, there are a lot of clubs trying to sign him, so you have to give him confidence and you have to value him according to his status [as the best player in the world]."