Piers Morgan has claimed that Cristiano Ronaldo was interested in a move to Arsenal following his release by Manchester United earlier this season.
Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford at the end of the summer 2021 transfer window, though the Red Devils' title hopes were quickly dashed and they finished the season with their lowest points total in the Premier League era.
The forward attempted to engineer an exit to any Champions League club last summer - Eintracht Frankfurt and Napoli are among the sides who have publicly claimed they were offered Ronaldo's services, while Bayern Munich and Chelsea were said to have contemplated deals before backing away.
Ronaldo began the 2022/23 campaign as a bench player under incoming Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag, but he came in for disciplinary action after leaving the stadium before the end of a win against Tottenham in October.
Shortly prior to the winter World Cup, Ronaldo delivered an explosive interview with Morgan lashing out against Man Utd's ownership and Ten Hag. He and the club quickly agreed terms over the mutual termination of his contract in the following days.
Once again, Ronaldo was left without many suitors, and despite his wishes to remain in Europe, he ended up signing for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr on a lucrative contract worth around £250m in total.
Read the latest Arsenal news here
However, notorious Arsenal fan Morgan - reeling from the Gunners' failed Premier League title charge - has claimed that his side would have benefitted with signing Ronaldo and that the forward informed him he was open to a move to the Emirates Stadium.
"Mock all you like, but if we'd signed Ronaldo when he left Utd, until the end of the season - as he was keen to do by the way - we would have won the league. He knows how to win major trophies, and how to score goals when it really matters," Morgan said on Twitter.
While Morgan's Arsenal are almost certain to finish the season in second place to Manchester City in the Premier League, Ronaldo is likely to fail in his own bid to win the Saudi Pro League.
Al Nassr sit three points behind Al Ittihad with only three games of the season remaining. Ronaldo has scored 13 goals and laid on two assists in 14 games since his move to the Middle East.
LISTEN NOW
On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss all the latest transfer news. On the agenda: Aurelien Tchouameni, Lionel Messi, Moises Caicedo, Rafael Leao, Kim min-Jae, David de Gea, Dusan Vlahovic and more.
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
This article was originally published on 90min as Piers Morgan reveals Cristiano Ronaldo wanted Arsenal move in 2022.
