Wenger almost signed Ronaldo

English Premier League:Arsene Wenger has revealed how close he came to signing Cristiano Ronaldo and suggested with some mischief that the player himself ought to explain how he almost chose Arsenal over Manchester United.

Ronaldo is in scintillating form at present, with 27 goals in 28 games for United, and he represents the greatest single threat to Arsenal in what has become an enthralling Premier League title race.

Arsenal are level on points with United at the top of the table and Wenger hinted yesterday that similar margins were in play when Ronaldo weighed up his options at Sporting Lisbon in the summer of 2003. With Real Madrid also to the fore, the Portugal winger moved to Old Trafford for €16 million.

"I knew about him, yes," said Wenger. "We were very close (to signing him) Manchester United had a partnership with Sporting Lisbon when (the assistant manager) Carlos Queiroz came in - that made the difference. One day I will tell you more about the story and you will be surprised. You will have to ask him (Ronaldo) how close it was."

"Someone asked me what was the difference between Ronaldo and Messi of Barcelona," he said. "It is the goals. Messi is more of a dribbler in a very short space but Ronaldo is good in the air, good on free-kicks, right foot, left foot.

"He has developed very well. Another quality Ronaldo has is that he stays healthy. He does not miss games. He has missed less games than (Wayne) Rooney and Messi in the last two years. He can take the kicks."

Meanwhile, Sven-Goran Eriksson hopes to complete the transfer of Benjani Mwaruwari from Portsmouth next week despite Manchester City having missed Thursday night's transfer deadline in a chaotic series of failures that has strained relations between the clubs and left the player in limbo.

The Premier League is scrutinising paperwork and assessing the reasons for the delay in the proposed move, but is expected to sanction the transfer since both clubs had originally intended to complete the deal before the midnight cut-off. There are precedents for such a decision, not least William Gallas's switch from Chelsea to Arsenal in 2006.