Ramon Calderon has claimed that Real Madrid President Florentino Perez wanted Cristiano Ronaldo out of the club on taking over.
The Portuguese star was brought in from Manchester United for €80m in July 2009 under Perez’s mandate, although it was Calderon who actually signed him, and the former President claims the current incumbent thought he was too expensive and wanted to break the agreement.
“It’s funny when I saw those pictures [of Ronaldo and Perez], because when Florentino became President and he came to the club and saw the contract he wanted to break it,” revealed Calderon in an interview with Sky Sports’ Revista de la Liga programme.
“He thought it was very expensive. He wanted to bring in Kaka, [Karim] Benzema, Xabi Alonso, [Raul] Albiol and other players.
“He thought that it was a lot of money and that he was a good player but wasn’t worth that amount of money, and I think it was a problem he had at the beginning with Cristiano.
“He knew that, of course, and they were tough moments. I mean, the time we were negotiating that contract I sometimes talked to [Manchester United chief executive] David Gill to see if they wanted to sell the player, and he said no.
“They sent me a letter saying we are not selling Cristiano and wouldn’t like him to go, and that’s normal, but the player wanted to leave and we were around two years negotiating that.”
