Gerard Houllier reveals Christiano Ronaldo nearly joined Liverpool
He said this when he attended the re-naming of the kenny Dalglish Stand at Anfield on Saturday ahead of a rival match with Manchester United which ends goalless.
Houllier admits Ronaldo wages were reasons that kept him from being a Liverpool player, instead he joined a rivalry Manchester United.
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"I saw him in the Toulon Under 21 tournament and we went for him,' admitted Houllier according to The Liverpool Echo. 'But we had a wage scale and we weren't paying the sort of salary he wanted.
"Then Manchester United played a friendly against Sporting Lisbon and all their boys said to Sir Alex Ferguson: 'You have to sign him'.'
"Maybe we would have won the title with Ronaldo, but we had Harry Kewell, who was outstanding at the time and was very hungry but got a bad injury,' Houllier added.
"I agreed with not breaking the wage structure. I thought it would cause problems in our dressing room."
"We would have had anarchy if the other players had found out how much we were considering paying for an 18-year-old kid.
"We looked for a compromise. Ten days later I was sitting in a lounge at Anfield having some lunch and looking at the big TV screen.
"Up came the news United had signed Ronaldo from Lisbon for £12.2m. Gerard and myself nearly choked on our food!"
Ronaldo Joined Sir Alex at Manchester United for a £12million fee in 2003.