Manchester United's failure to sell David Beckham to Barcelona meant they missed out on Ronaldinho in 2003

Former Barcelona president Joan Laporta has revealed that the club signed Ronaldinho in the summer of 2003 after a deal to land David Beckham from Manchester United fell through.

At the time, Ronaldinho had been widely expected to move to Old Trafford from Paris Saint-Germain.

But the Brazil international went on to join the Catalans where he became one of the greatest players of his generation at the Nou Camp, winning two La Liga titles and the Champions League during.

And Laporta’s recent revelation, made to Spanish newspaper Marca, suggests that United lost out on the player after failing to follow through with their agreement to sell Beckham to Barcelona.

Laporta had promised to sign Beckham as part of his election manifesto and United announced a deal was close on the eve of the Catalan’s confirmation as club president.

The England captain, though, had his heart set on a move to rivals Real Madrid and refused to contemplate a move to the Nou Camp at a time when the club were not in the Champions League.

As such, Barcelona turned their attention to Ronaldinho and famously outbid United for the midfield general.

"It was between Beckham, Ronaldinho or [Thierry] Henry," Laporta revealed to Marca. "United told us that they would sell him to us if we won the election as we didn't have the power at that time.

"But they used us and in the end he signed for Madrid. We met at Heathrow Airport and signed a document which said that they would sell him to us if we struck an agreement with the agent.

"However, we didn't manage to do that. We went to Nice and stayed with him and he said he would think about it. We got fed up of waiting on an answer, so we signed Ronaldinho instead."

United went on to sign Ronaldo after losing out on Ronaldinho and the rest, they say, is history.