Former Valencia sporting director Javier Subirats reveals he came close to signing Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic during his tenure.

Subirats was a legendary player at Mestalla for 12 years before stepping into the role of sporting director.

With Subirats as sporting director, Los Che claimed two La Liga titles and the UEFA Cup in the early 2000s, but there were some players who could have brought even more success to the La Liga outfit.

Club legend Pep Claramunt recently told Tribalfootball about how the club did not follow through on his recommendation to sign Ronaldo, who was then with Sporting Lisbon.

And Subirats has added another name for Valencianistas to wonder what could have been.

The 63-year-old revealed Ibrahimovic also came close to joining the club, but the economic situation at the time prevented the potential transfer.

Asked who was the biggest name he almost signed for Valencia, Subirats told Tribalfootball.com: "(Laughs) To say players I almost signed does not help anything or anyone. At home, I always say that you cannot say something or somebody is almost signed until it is actually signed…not until all the threads have been tied together, as we say in Spanish.

"Two players that I would have like to have signed was, firstly, Cristiano Ronaldo when he was sixteen years old but it was bit complicated at the time.

"Secondly, Ibrahimović was also on the cards to join Valencia and we discussed with him about coming to Valencia CF but the situation collapsed because of the economic situation of the club at the time."