Cristiano Ronaldo nearly was sold by Sporting Lisbon to Juventus in 2003 at the age of 18.

“In 2003, Mendes was looking to engineer a move for his first great player: Cristiano Ronaldo," said Italian agent Alessandro Moggi. "He was a kid of 18 who had just made his debut for Sporting and Mendes wanted him to move to Italy. We tried to help them out and offered him to Parma and Lazio but he was rejected by both. He was obviously talented but he was too young for them and they were not convinced. Juventus on the other hand said yes and sent us to Lisbon with Mendes to tie up the deal with Sporting.”

But Manchester United quickly moved on Ronaldo with Alex Ferguson's son, Jason Ferguson, coming to Lisbon with an offer of €12 million.

“In a matter of half a day, he became a Manchester United player,” Moggi said.

“It was a deal that could have changed the history of European football. I thought about it a million times during the days I was in Lisbon. Seeing his attitude and how he handled himself I think he could still have been a Juventus player today,” Moggi said.