Ronaldo was offered to Napoli before Juventus move

Kolkata, January 4: The last summer window saw one of the biggest transfers in recent times when Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo left Bernabeu after nine long years.

The switch to Serie A has done good for Ronalso as the Portuguese superstar has helped Juventus maintain the top spot in Serie A so far.

However, things could have been pretty different for the player. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner could, however, have landed in a different Italian side had the figures of the deal did not reach sky high. According to Napoli's sporting director, when Ronaldo decided to leave the side in Summer, his agent Jorge Mendes first knocked the door of the Naples-based side which is being managed by his former Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.

But the Partonopei quickly realised they wouldn’t be able to afford the 33-year-old's transfer fee as well as his enormous wage and they abandoned the idea of considering the deal.

"We have a close relationship with Jorge since (Faouzi) Ghoulam's contract renewal and we often speak to him," Giuntoli revealed to Sky Italia. "I was with (Napoli chairman) De Laurentiis when he made the offer to us.

"We went quiet and upon going into the details of the operation we realised that it was out of our reach."


Napoli are the second club to reveal that they were in the run for the attacker. Earlier, former AC Milan sporting director Massimiliano Mirabelli said that the club were also interested in Ronaldo but they too backed out due to the huge money involved.