Joan Laporta suggests Barcelona turned down Cristiano Ronaldo in favour of Robert Lewandowski

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Joan Laporta suggests Barcelona turned down Cristiano Ronaldo in favour of Robert Lewandowski

Barcelona club president Joan Laporta has suggested that they were offered the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, but instead pushed ahead with a move for Robert Lewandowski.

Ronaldo is seeking an exit from Manchester United in order to play Champions League football for the upcoming season. He has recently been linked with moves to Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid, but all have distanced themselves from such reports.

The 37-year-old was also touted as a potential target for Barcelona, and speaking to CBS Sports, Laporta seemed to hint that Ronaldo was indeed offered to the Blaugrana by agent Jorge Mendes.

When asked if it was true Barça prioritised Lewandowski's signing over that of Ronaldo's, Laporta replied: "Well, this type of story is all within the process of the summer window. There always appears a lot of news.

"But in the end the truth is we wanted Lewandowski. We have a very good relationship with Jorge Mendes. I have known him for a long time. He is one of the best player agents. He knows how to do his job and I respect him.

"In this case, we decided to go for Lewandowski and knew he was crucial to our success. So we went to Bayern instead. This is the reality. The other [Ronaldo] topic is just part of the 'little history' of football. It's a very nice story, but you will always hear lots of contradictory news about it."

Laporta was asked to clarify whether Barcelona even considered a move for Ronaldo, to which he said: "We got Lewandowski. He was our main target and I prefer not to comment further."

He added: "Ronaldo is a very good professional and he's still so fit. He's a player who is very ambitious and competitive and I am sure he has a lot of options. He's still a player of Manchester United, an extraordinary club who I respect very much. His future is not my business. It's the business of Manchester United and Cristiano."