Former Man United chief executive Peter Kenyon reveals why the club failed in their bid to sign Ronaldinho to replace David Beckham in 2003

Former Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon has revealed how close the club came to signing Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho in 2003.

Twelve months after winning the World Cup in 2002, Ronaldinho was one of the hottest properties in European football, and United wanted to bring him to Old Trafford from PSG.

David Beckham had just left the club to join Real Madrid, and United appeared to be in pole position to land Ronaldinho as his replacement but negotiations broke down and he ended up moving to Barcelona instead.

Kenyon, who was United’s chief executive between 2000 and 2003, has now opened up on why the deal eventually fell through.

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents, Kenyon said on Ronaldinho: ‘We did chase him hard. We did look at him hard.’

United were targeting Ronaldinho as a replacement for David Beckham after he joined Real Madrid

United’s former chief executive Peter Kenyon (pictured) has revealed why the deal fell through

Asked about a rumour that United agreed a fee with PSG only to change the figure when they arrived in Paris to seal the deal, Kenyon denied this and insisted things became more complicated due to the number of people involved in negotiations. 

‘Absolutely wrong,’ Kenyon replied on the transfer fee. ‘This was the same as any other transfer. 

‘Alex [Ferguson] would be involved in it. Critical decisions, why he’d want him, where he wants him, where he would play etc. So, Alex was involved all the way through.

‘Normally, in these cases you’re dealing with the player and his agent. Here, we’re dealing with the player, several agents and about 20 other people in the room. He’s a great player, but suddenly we’re into a whole different thing. 

‘Injecting that sort of culture around training, not normally on time, which is different. The Brazilian health culture, different. Fantastic player, but there’s all sorts of other things that started to get introduced into all this, and he was clearly coming with a load of people. 

‘You know what United was like at that time. It was an institution, no one got treated differently than the rest.’

Kenyon also believes Beckham’s acrimonious exit contributed to United turning their backs on a deal for Ronaldinho.

Kenyon believes Sir Alex Ferguson wanting a united dressing room after Beckham’s acrimonious exit led to the club pulling out of negotiations for Ronaldinho

Ronaldinho signed for Barcelona in 2003 instead, and won the Ballon d’Or two years later

The former England captain had moved on after a public fall-out with Ferguson when he was infamously struck in the face by a boot kicked by the legendary manager in a dressing room bust-up.

United wanted to ensure the squad was all singing from the same hymn sheet after Beckham’s departure, and felt Ronaldinho’s arrival may not enable them to achieve this as they opted to walk away from the deal. 

‘This started to become a bigger issue than the money,’ Kenyon explained. 

‘We sort of got an agreement with the club, got an agreement with the player, but we came back and said “on balance, I don’t think this is [going to work]. David had just moved on and part of that noise was around the environment.’

After missing out on Ronaldinho, United went on to sign Cristiano Ronaldo instead and won three consecutive titles with the Portuguese winger in their ranks between 2007 and 2009, leading to Kenyon quipping: ‘It didn’t work out bad, did it?’  

But Ronaldinho also went on to star at Barcelona, and won the Ballon d’Or in 2005 after establishing himself as the best player in the world.

United signed Cristiano Ronaldo instead of Ronaldinho in 2003, and won three league titles between 2007 and 2009

United didn’t win the league for four years after failing to sign Ronaldinho, as Arsenal’s Invincibles and then Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea dominated domestically.

Things could have been very different if they had got a deal over the line for Ronaldinho, but they ultimately never managed to bring the mercurial talent to the Premier League.