Ex-Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has claimed incumbent Florentino Perez didn’t want to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United because he thought he was too expensive.
The 29-year-old joined Los Blancos in a world record deal in 2009 and has been nothing short of a phenomenon ever since. He has netted 274 goals in 264 games for the side, and has helped them win the coveted Champions League, as well as La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Spanish Supercopa and the European Super Cup.
But speaking to Sky Sport’s Revista de La Liga, Calderon said he has started negotiations with the Red Devils prior to being replaced as president and that when Perez took over, he wanted to end the talks.
“When Florentino became president and came to the club, he wanted to break. He thought it was very expensive,” Calderon said. And he added:“He knew he was a good player but thought he wasn’t worth that amount of money. That was a problem he had at the beginning with Cristiano, who knew that.”
Calderon also revealed he had been working on a deal for two years and that it was disappointing he couldn’t bring Ronaldo to the Santiago Bernabeu during his tenure.
“It was a tough moment. In the time that we were negotiating that contract I spoke to (former United chief executive) David Gill about selling the player but he said ‘no’. They said ‘we are not selling Cristiano, we don’t want him to go’ which is normal. But the player wanted to leave. We were negotiating for two years,” he revealed.
