ARSENE WENGER joked about his prowess as a lothario yesterday but Cristiano Ronaldo will always be the one that got away. The newly elected Ballon d'Or winner has revealed how he came within "an inch of signing for Arsenal" after he met Wenger on three occasions and he added that both he and his mother continued to hold the Arsenal manager in high esteem.

"After I signed for Manchester United, she and I were sitting watching a Premier League game on television," said Ronaldo, "and she yelled out 'I know that guy'. I liked him.'" "I'm disappointed that I seduced only Ronaldo's mum," said Wenger with a smile.

Wenger does not have many regrets but he admitted Ronaldo was among them. He revealed that the midfielder had been so close to joining his club from Sporting Lisbon in the summer of 2003 that he even had an Arsenal shirt made up for him.

"I had Ronaldo at the training ground, I showed him around and I gave him a shirt," said Wenger. "It has got his name on the back."

Ultimately, though, United's superior contacts in Portugal, not to mention their willingness to dwarf Arsenal's offer for the player, saw them close the deal.

United had just returned from a pre-season tour of the United States when they faced Sporting in a friendly in Lisbon. Ronaldo was mesmerising and several United players urged Ferguson to make sure that he did not miss out. Ronaldo was purchased shortly afterwards for €14 million, a record fee at the time for a teenager.

"What killed the deal was that United came back from the States and played against Sporting Lisbon," said Wenger. "Ronaldo was man of the match. The United players must have been dead coming out of the plane and Ronaldo was fresh so he must have been even more dominant.

"United had a partnership agreement with Lisbon and in that partnership, they played them after coming back from the States. There was also Carlos Queiroz (United's Portuguese former assistant manager). He knew Ronaldo well and since then, United have signed Anderson and Nani from Portugal because of Carlos Queiroz. It's like I can sign (players) from France because I know them well.

"It was a question of the amount of transfer fee to be paid (to Sporting). The price, in fact, that we discussed was much lower. It was divided by three. Of course, Ronaldo has proved to be a bargain."

The pain for Wenger has increased exponentially, season by season.

"We watched Ronaldo play at the Toulon (youth) tournament," said Wenger. "We had bought (Luis) Boa Morte (years earlier) from the same tournament. I saw that Ronaldo was an exceptional talent but we could not predict that he would become the player he is. What we did not see in him at that time was his capability to score goals.

"He was something special but he did not score goals. He did not even go into the box. Now he is good in the air on corners."

Wenger marvels at how the major European clubs have scouts seemingly everywhere. "A friend of mine at Tours in the French second division told me that when they play at home, they have on average 15-20 foreign scouts," he said. "It is Ajax, AS Roma . . . unbelievable. You are not any more the only one on the ball."

Clubs have to hope, Wenger said, that if they can make the first contact with the player, he might feel some sort of trust or loyalty, which could prove decisive. This was not the case with Ronaldo but Wenger has beaten United to other players, most recently teenage midfielder Aaron Ramsey.

Wenger, who said that he would not allow his controversial former captain William Gallas to leave, sends his team out against Wigan Athletic today in the belief that Premier League history can repeat itself. Arsenal were 13 points behind United at Christmas in 1997 yet they fought back to win the title. "I am confident we have the quality to do it again," said Wenger. "But we have to deliver against so-called smaller teams."

Meanwhile, Inter Milan manager Jose Mourinho has rubbished claims he is interested in signing Ronaldo.

Instead the former Chelsea manager insists that he does not intend to delve into the transfer market when the window reopens in January as he wants to end the current season with the same group of players.

"It's a beautiful story for the papers, but there is nothing true," Mourinho confirmed over the Ronaldo rumours.

• Guardian Service