Did Real Madrid president drive out Ronaldo

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted that it was a shift in his relationship with the Real Madrid president, Florentino Pérez that led him out of the club.

The Portugal forward, who joined Juventus for around €100m in July, departed Spain as Real’s all-time leading goalscorer having helped inspire the club to 15 major trophies, including four Champions Leagues and two La Liga titles. The club claimed the transfer had been instigated “at the will and the request of the player”.

Ronaldo, in an interview with France Football, suggested Perez’s attitude towards him had changed.

“I felt it inside the club, especially from the president, that they no longer considered me the same way that they did in the start,” he said. “In the first four or five years there, I had the feeling of being ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’. Less afterwards. The president looked at me through eyes that didn’t want to say the same thing, as if I was no longer indispensable to them, if you know what I mean.”

“That’s what made me think about leaving. Sometimes I’d look at the news, where they were saying I was asking to leave. There was a bit of that, but the truth is that I always had the impression that the president would not hold me back. If it had all been about money, I’d have moved to China, where I would have earned five times as much than here [at Juventus] or at Real. I did not come to Juve for the money. I earned the same in Madrid, if not more. The difference is that, at Juve, they really wanted me. They told me that and made it clear. They showed me that.”

The 33-year-old, who scored 44 goals for Madrid last season has scored 7 for Juventus so far.

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