Liverpool were confident they had beaten Europe's biggest clubs to the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2003 - only for fierce rivals Manchester United to gazump them.
Sir Alex Ferguson swooped for the Sporting Lisbon starlet in August of that year, paying £12.2million to sign him ahead of the likes of Barcelona, Juventus and Arsenal.
But it has now emerged that Liverpool thought they had the basis of a deal in place to sign Ronaldo - then one of the hottest teenagers on the planet - for just £4million.