Real Madrid SHOCK: Florentino Perez nearly scrapped Man Utd transfer for Cristiano Ronaldo

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REAL MADRID president Florentino Perez nearly stopped Cristiano Ronaldo joining from Manchester United, reports say.

Real Madrid managed to sign Ronaldo from Manchester United for £80million back in 2009, with the Portugal international since establishing himself as a Bernabeu icon.

The 33-year-old, who is currently strutting his stuff in Italy with Juventus, enjoyed nine fine years over in La Liga.

Real Madrid won four Champions League titles during Ronaldo’s stint in Spain, while also scooping two La Liga crowns along the way.

However, Goal claim that club president Perez actually nearly STOPPED the deal with Manchester United.

Back in 2009, Real were aggressively pursuing the player’s signature.

But, instead of Perez, it was instead Ramon Calderon who was overseeing ongoings at the Bernabeu at the time.

Calderon lost out to Perez in the Real Madrid presidency battle that year, however.

And Goal claim that Perez was contemplating whether to scrap the agreement they had with Manchester United for Ronaldo.

However, Jorge Valdano ultimately convinced the Los Blancos supremo to carry through with it instead.

As a result, though, the report claims that Perez and Ronaldo never had a smooth-sailing relationship.

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It is said that they did, though, have a mutual truce. The United icon delivered on the pitch, while Perez would reward him with increasingly lucrative contracts.

This year, though, both parties decided enough was enough.

And Ronaldo has admitted that his relationship with the Real Madrid chief was not as good as he had hoped.

“I felt within the club, certainly on the part of the president, that they didn’t think of me the way they did at the beginning,” he said.

“The truth is that the president wanted me, but at the same time he let me know that my departure would not be a problem.

“I achieved a lot of good things at Madrid and had some incredible times there, which I will remember forever, with some incredibly valuable team-mates. The fans also.

“But I believe that after nine years there, the time had come for me to change club and to move.”

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