'It was Beckham, Ronaldinho or Henry'

Laporta was made president in 2003. He missed out on signing the English midfielder. Ronaldinho arrived in his place, and the rest is history. Laporta himself explained:

'He escaped relatively. It was him [Beckham], Ronaldinho or Henry. Manchester United published on their website that they would sell Beckham to us if we won the elctions and we did not have the power at that moment. They did it to force a decision from Madrid, they used us', he pointed out.

This is what brought Ronaldinho to Barcelona. 'We had already won the elections. We met at Heathrow to sign a document stating that they would sell Beckham if we agreed with the agent, something we did not manage. We went to Nice to meet him. He said he would think about it and we are still waiting. So we signed Ronaldinho', Laporta explained.