Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo hinted at the end of the Champions League final in Kiev that he might be moving on. That was on May 26.
Who could blame the Portuguese jewel considering that there was really nothing left for him to achieve at Real Madrid. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner knew without being told that the time had truly come for him to move on.
Real president, Perez, also knew that the time had come. The relevant question then became : Where would Ronaldo move to? Ronaldo's handlers went to work.
For a player who was still at the peak of his powers, clubs were expected to be falling over themselves in order to secure his signature. Actually, they did. At the end, it was Juventus that won the player's signature after paying Real Madrid a transfer fee of 99 million pounds.
For the nine years he spent at Real, Ronaldo expressed his gratitude to the fans in a letter :
'These years in Real Madrid, and in this city of Madrid, have been possibly the happiest of my life.
I only have feelings of enormous gratitude for this club, for its fans and for this city. I can only thank all of them for the love and affection I have received.
However, I believe that the time has come to open a new stage in my life and that is why I have asked the club to accept transferring me. I feel that way and I ask everyone, and especially our fans, to please understand me.
They have been absolutely wonderful for nine years. They have been nine unique years. It has been an emotional time for me, full of consideration but also hard because Real Madrid is of the highest demands, but I know very well that I will never forget that I have enjoyed football here in a unique way.
I have had fabulous team-mates on the field and in the dressing room, I have felt the warmth of an incredible crowd and together we have won three Championships in a row and four Championships in five years. And with them also, on an individual level, I have the satisfaction of having won four Gold Balls and three Gold Boots. All during my time in this immense and extraordinary club.'
No comments:
Post a Comment