NAPOLI rejected the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo because he would have bankrupted the club, according to their president.
Aurelio De Laurentiis claims the Serie A side were offered the Portuguese superstar before he joined rivals Juventus from Real Madrid in an £88million deal last week.
AP:Associated Press
Napoli claim they rejected the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo before he joined JuventusRonaldo, 33, penned a four-year contract with the Old Lady worth £26.5m a season.
De Laurentiis admits he would have loved to have reunited the forward with his former Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti at Napoli – but it would have spelled financial disaster.
He told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "Ronaldo had also been offered to Napoli.
"I called his agent, Jorge Mendes. We also formulated our offer and we would have paid Ronaldo with a percentage on the subsequent profits guaranteed by his arrival.
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Aurelio De Laurentiis says he was offered the chance to reunite Carlo Ancelotti with his old Madrid forward
AP:Associated Press
The Napoli chief says signing Ronaldo would have bankrupted the club"The €350 million that Juventus will invest is beyond our reach, we would have risked pushing the club towards bankruptcy."
Ronaldo’s arrival in Turin has been hailed as a huge boost for Italian football.
He scored a staggering 450 goals in just 438 games during his nine seasons with Madrid and helped the Galacticos to win the Champions League on four occasions.
The ex-Manchester United striker has been given the No7 shirt at Juventus by his team-mate Juan Cuadrado.
It has still not been confirmed when Ronaldo will begin training with his new side following his World Cup exploits.
But he could potentially be ready to make his bow for Juve against his old side Real in the International Champions Cup on August 4.
Ronaldo and the reigning Serie A champions will discover who they will begin the title defence against when the fixtures are announced for the Italian top-flight on Thursday.
The new campaign will kick-off on Saturday 18 August.
NAPOLI rejected the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo because he would have bankrupted the club, according to their president.
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