Oliver Kahn, Bayern Munich CEO has admitted the club gave consideration to signing Cristiano Ronaldo this summer.
The Portuguese star had wanted to leave Manchester United in search of playing in the Champions League after they failed to seal qualification.
Bayern were amongst a number of clubs including Chelsea and Atletico Madrid to be linked with Ronaldo.
Kahn has now revealed that Bayern did want to sign Ronaldo for the good of the Bundesliga but they quickly ‘dismissed’ the idea.
Speaking to Bild, he said: ‘We briefly discussed Ronaldo at Bayern and Dortmund probably did too.
‘We also see the big picture of the Bundesliga.
‘Of course, superstars like Ronaldo are an important factor in attracting attention to the league.
‘He is one of the greatest of the last decade. But we quickly dismissed that.’
Ronaldo has only made one Premier League start this season and that was in the humiliating 4-0 loss to Brentford in August.
He is set to start in United’s Europa League match against Omonia on Thursday and manager Erik ten Hag revealed Ronaldo has been ‘p***ed off’ due to being benched several times this season.
He said: ‘Of course, he wants to play and he’s p***ed off when he’s not playing. Clear.
‘When you’re here and you’re happy, or satisfied, to be on the bench, this is not a club where you have to be, especially Cristiano.
‘He’s really competitive, as we all know. He’s not happy when he’s not playing.’