Former Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti has said Pele signed for the Nerazzurri in 1958 only for the deal to be called off due to fan protests.
Brazilian legend Pele was in Milan on Thursday to promote a new film about his life, and in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport he revealed how AC Milan had tried to sign him once, but the closest he came to playing in Italy was when Inter struck an agreement with his former club Santos.
"It's true, but sadly my father [Angelo Moratti -- president of Inter from 1955 to 1968] had to accept [Santos'] request," Moratti said. "On the other end of the phone, there was a man deeply concerned for his life.
"Certainly Inter were the first European club to have had this huge champion under contract. I can remember so clearly how we signed Pele for the 1958-59 season when he was just a young lad, setting the world on fire in Sweden [at the World Cup].
"My dad made his move immediately and he signed him, beating other interested clubs. The contract was all in order, it had been signed and it just had to be registered. But as soon as word of it reached Brazil, the people there started to attack their directors.
"What can you do? When you find somebody who is actually willing to physically attack the president of Santos. It was no longer a football deal but more an act of conscience on the part of my father, who tore the contract apart."
That was not the only time Inter tried to sign Pele either.
"Yes, when he was older we made another move for him, but whether it was because the borders were closed or for another reason, it didn't work out," Moratti added.
"We really were this close to getting Pele and he was following Inter closely back then, to the point he paid huge compliments to our [player] Mariolino Corso, defining him as the only Italian who would have performed with dignity at Santos and in Brazil.
"Mario was always rightly proud of these words, and so were all of us who elected him as one of our most loved champions. It's no coincidence Mario was nicknamed God's left foot."
Pele spent almost all of his playing career with Santos, leaving them only for a two-year stint in the United States with New York Cosmos at the conclusion of his career.