'I was Cristiano Ronaldo's Man Utd team-mate - he could've played with Lionel Messi'
Share:
Patrice Evra claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo wanted to join Paris Saint-Germain in 2018 - a team that Lionel Messi would eventually sign for just a few years later. Ronaldo played alongside Evra at Manchester United for three years, before the Portuguese playmaker made a £80million (€94m) move to Real Madrid. He stayed at Madrid for almost 10 years, winning four Champions Leagues, two La Ligas, three UEFA Supercups and three FIFA Club World Cups.
In 2018, Ronaldo was searching for a new club after winning the treble with Madrid, and he had plenty of options to pick from. One club under consideration was Paris Saint-Germain, and Evra claimed that this was the place the star was going to go at the time.
Speaking to Rothen s'enflamme in December, the 43-year-old said that Ronaldo was interested in the project at PSG. At the time, their frontline consisted of Edinson Cavani, Neymar Jr and Kylian Mbappe. Evra said: "Has Cristiano ever wanted to come to PSG? Yes. Before he signed for Juventus, he would have signed for Paris. He wanted to come to PSG. He had options. Chelsea, Juventus, Paris, Arsenal never. He said he would never go to Arsenal. But he was interested in the PSG project.".
Just three years on from this potential Ronaldo move to PSG, fellow footballing icon Messi left Barcelona and joined PSG on a free transfer, staying there for two years and winning the Ligue 1 title twice. Messi played upfront alongside Neymar and Mbappe, scoring 32 goals and assisting 34 times across 75 appearances for the French side. Evra also had something to say about Messi's time in Paris, claiming that Ronaldo would've done better for the club than the Argentinian - and even went as far as to say that he believed Messi hated his time there.
