Laporta: 'Barcelona were offered Ronaldo and Mourinho.

Ex-Barcelona president Joan Laporta claims the club were offered Cristiano Ronaldo before he joined Manchester United, but they didn't have the finances. Barcelona had just signed Ronaldinho, Ricardo Quaresma and Rafael Marquez at this time. Laporta also claims Jose Mourinho was offered to him by Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes, but he already had Pep Guardiola in mind as Barcelona's long-term manager. "Mendes called me to ask if we were interested in Mourinho, but we had decided to go for Pep Guardiola. Pep was the ideal person to take the gameplay ideology and the philosophy forward. We always thought it would turn out well but the reality exceeded all expectations."

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