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Cristiano Ronaldo's unexpected move from Real Madrid to Juventus is one of the most shocking transfers in football history. After a drawn-out saga in the summer of 2018, the Portuguese hitman signed a four-year deal with the Bianconeri for a fee believed to be in the region of €100 million.
Having signed for Real Madrid from Manchester United for a then world-record fee of €94 million, Ronaldo established himself as one of the greats of the game at the Santiago Bernabeu. He is Real Madrid's leading goalscorer in history and won a staggering four UEFA Champions League titles and Ballon d'Or awards apiece in the Spanish capital.
Ronaldo became the most expensive player above the age of 30 when he moved from Real Madrid to Juventus, while his €100 million transfer fee is also the highest sum paid by an Italian club in history.
Upon joining Juventus, Ronaldo revealed that the reason he left Real Madrid was to take on a new challenge. Having represented the likes of Sporting CP, Manchester United and Real Madrid, the Portuguese great wanted to try his luck in a new league, due to which he completed a move to Juventus after winning the UEFA Champions League with Los Blancos in 2018.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez played a pivotal role in Ronaldo's departure
However, he also later revealed in an interview with France Football that the lack of support from Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was the reason behind his departure.
"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. 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 I always had the impression the president would not hold me back."
Ronaldo has aged like fine wine and continues to bang in the goals for club and country. The 35-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down and is sure to go down as one of the greatest footballers of all time.
