Florentino Perez reveals why Cristiano Ronaldo wanted Real Madrid exit

Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez has finally spoken publicly about the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and the reason behind it.

Real Madrid made one of the world’s grandest transfers two and a half years ago when they sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus, for a reported sum of 110 million euros. The Portuguese and the Merengues have both been successful despite parting, but whilst playing in the Champions League, it looks like a match made in heaven was broken.

Los Blancos did spend a significant amount of money to replace their greatest ever marksman on Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic last summer, but Karim Benzema has been the club’s best player since 2018. Kylian Mbappe is lined up to move to the Santiago Bernabeu next year but matters are easier said than done. All in all, Ronaldo misses Madrid and Madrid miss Ronaldo too.

Florentino Perez recently presided over Real Madrid’s annual general meeting and stated that the club’s biggest source of profit in recent years was the sale of Ronaldo, according to 90min. Despite the coronavirus, the club managed to weather turbulence and returned a positive financial result of 313,000 euros for the 2019-20 fiscal year.

Speaking in one of his latest interviews, Perez has revealed why Ronaldo left the Santiago Bernabeu.

"The most profitable sale this year was that of ​Cristiano. He wanted to leave for personal reasons, and when everyone is converging on one solution you come to an agreement. No one offered Real Madrid more than Juventus’ €100m. We can’t do anything but thank Ronaldo for all he did with this shirt. He’s the best ever after [Alfredo] Di Stefano and this will always be his home."

A lot of Real Madrid fans have been divided in their opinion as to why Ronaldo left and unfortunately, by giving a diplomatic response, Florentino Perez has done little but to keep the matter cryptic. Whether Ronaldo left for monetary reasons or to try a new league, or indeed out of anything personal will be an unfolded mystery for some more time.