"We were on the brink of signing Ronaldinho, but he signed for Barcelona"

United legend Scholes was one of the leaders of the Red Devils when they strengthened with Cristiano Ronaldo.

The English side could have signed Ronaldinho too, but the deal was thwarted. "I don't remember what year it was, but I thought the manager already had it," Scholes said in a podcast presented by former player Robbie Savage.

"We were in pre-season and about to announce it and give him a number, but he changed his mind at the last minute and signed for Barcelona," he recalled.

The Brazilian star signed for Barca from PSG that year. He was at the French side for 2 seasons and remained at the Camp Nou until 2007-08.

In that pre-season, Manchester United faced Barcelona and Scholes came up against 'Ronnie', who is on house arrest in Paraguay after being accused of entering the country with false documentation.

"We were really looking forward to it. Ronaldinho... What a player! We thought he'd bring something special to the team, similar to what Cantona did in his day", Scholes explained.

"And three days later we got to play him in Seattle, so everybody tried to kick him. We tried to go after him for not coming to us", the Englishman joked.

United's mythical midfielder also remembered other signings that could have happened that summer: "I think one of them was Damien Duff and Robben was pretty close too."