Lorenzo Sanz reveals unfulfilled signings during his Real Madrid presidency Real Madrid Luis Aragones, Henry and Messi

Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz has revealed several anecdotes concerning signings that never came into being during his time at the club.

The 75-year-old has recalled the time he was close to signing Luis Aragones, Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi, as well as the day he clinched a deal with Santiago Solari.

The two times Aragones came close to Los Blancos

"Luis Aragonés pudo ser entrenador del Real Madrid dos veces", Lorenzo Sanz en #Ídolospic.twitter.com/6sS6rqHi0s ? Ídolos (@Idolos_show) 21 de febrero de 2019

In an interview with Idolos, Sanz admitted that he unsuccessfully tried to sign former Atletico Madrid and Spain coach Luis Aragones.

"Luis Aragones could have trained [Real] Madrid twice, as when I arrived at the board in 1985, he was going to be the coach," Sanz said.

"He was a very good friend of mine, as we met almost every day in a cafeteria and we practically closed the agreement in my house.

"He had one year left with Atletico Madrid and the president of that time, Vicente Calderon, was abroad, so Luis thought that when he returned to Spain he would convince him to release him to be able to come to Madrid, but in the end he did not let him.

"The second time I remember that it was when he was training Espanyol and that was also a moment we could have signed him, but in the end it did not come to being."

Henry's signed contract

Me quedé con el contrato de Thierry Henry firmado en el cajón. Antes de salir del Mónaco, el delantero francés pudo jugar en el Real Madrid. Así lo narró Lorenzo Sanz en una gran charla para #Ídolos. #ToBeContinuedpic.twitter.com/t43H9LthvW ? Ídolos (@Idolos_show) 21 de febrero de 2019

The former Madrid boss went on to reveal that he had signed a contract with Thierry Henry and snatch the French striker from Monaco.

"Henry played at Monaco, we convinced him to sign with us and he signed the contract," Sanz continued.

"When we had him on the plane to come to Madrid, the father arrived and said he could not leave and that he was afraid of the president of Monaco.

"I said I would fix it, but in the end he insisted so much on his refusal that the operation came to an end."

Messi could have ended up at Real Madrid

El día en que Leo Messi pudo vestir la camiseta del Real Madrid. ¿Os lo imagináis? Pues aquí en #Ídolos lo cuenta Lorenzo Sanz. pic.twitter.com/gFbNkocbqp ? Ídolos (@Idolos_show) 21 de febrero de 2019

Lionel Messi has played a major role to changing the history of Barcelona, but Sanz has claimed that the Argentine could have picked Madrid instead of the Catalans.

"The current representative of [Marco] Asensio (Horacio Gaggioli) was the one who brought Messi to Spain," Sanz added.

"The parents told him that he had to be brought [in Spain], but he still did not know whether to take him to Madrid or Barcelona.

"They told him to take him wherever, but in the end he went to Barcelona."

Jesus Gil's reaction when Sanz signed Solari on the deadline day

Finally, Sanz talked about the day he made former Atletico Madrid president Jesus Gil, hit the ceiling, when he signed the current Madrid coach, Santiago Solari, on the deadline day.

"There was some kind of agreement between Real Madrid and Atletico to not approach players of the opposing team, or to talk to each other before doing so," Sanz noted.

"But that time Pirri, who was our sports director, recommended the signing of [Santiago] Solari on the deadline day.

"I told him that I was going to talk to Jesus first, but I could not find him because he was on a trip, and when we saw it was midnight, we had to move forward.

"The next day, when Jesus heard about it, he starting swearing at me with various expressions."