Juventus would have signed Cristiano Ronaldo at the age of 17 from Sporting Lisbon if not for the refusal of ex-Chile striker Marcelo Salas to move in exchange, according to Gianni Di Marzio. 

Di Marzio was in charge of transfers at Juventus from 2001 to 2006.

During Ronaldo's first season as a senior player at Sporting in 2002-03, many of Europe's top clubs became interested in the emerging star, with different reports having since claimed that Barcelona, Arsenal and Liverpool all strongly considered moves before he eventually joined Manchester United the following summer.

"When I was working for Juventus, I called Turin and said he was going to be the best player in the world, obviously behind [Diego] Maradona," he said.

"I negotiated [a transfer] and brought Cristiano to Turin in 2002 to sign for Juventus. But [Marcelo] Salas did not accept the swap deal. For a few million euros, Salas did not want to go and he later ended up at River Plate. That is how Juventus lost Cristiano Ronaldo. [Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes] knows this story very well."