Ronaldo, who has a remarkable 954 career goals, is one of the best players in history and will go down as a legend of the game when he eventually retires over the next few years.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner is still going strong at 40 years old for Al-Nassr and continues to score for the Saudi Pro League side as well as Portugal. However, his career could of have a much different trajectory as revealed by Silkman who spoke to The Telegraph.
“I did a deal with (Ronaldo’s agent) Jorge Mendes. But Chelsea said no. Cristiano Ronaldo was €3.5m and the deal was everything over that was split 50-50 with the club.
“He played against Man United pre-season, ruined them and straight after the game they paid €11.5m and Jorge must have stuck four million in his pocket. Good luck to him but I was gutted!”
Ronaldo would go to Old Trafford instead and shine for Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson before, of course, moving to Real Madrid. If he had made the move to West London he may have failed to impress or could have gone down a much different path.
Silkman revealed that he thinks that if Ronaldo came into the game today, he would not find as much success.
“If Cristiano Ronaldo was coming into the game today, he would do well to get signed by Barnsley because they’d be saying to him ‘what are you doing? All these stepovers and tricks and flicks? Pass the ball!’
“Coaches don’t want teams to make a mistake. I’ve watched a lot of young coaches. To say it’s crap is an understatement. What you hear is, ‘pass, pass, pass’. You never hear someone say, ‘Take him on, drop the shoulder, do a trick’.”