Ronaldo Rejected Barcelona – Ramon Calderon

Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has claimed Cristiano Ronaldo rejected a lucrative move to Barcelona because he had already signed an agreement with Madrid.

Calderon said that Ronaldo agreed to join Madrid early last season – despite losing out on a 30 million euro (£26.3m) windfall had he waited for Manchester United to accept a bid.

Calderon, who quit his role at the start of 2009 amid allegations of electoral vote-rigging, took credit for arranging the deal ahead of current president Florentino Perez’s arrival, and claimed that United boss Sir Alex Ferguson tried to sell the player to Barcelona.

“On December 8, 2008 Cristiano came to an agreement with Manchester United about joining Real Madrid,” Calderon said. “There was no negotiation about this as he had signed on it.

“The player, in order to show his good faith and desire to come to Madrid, took a financial penalty of 30 million euros. But then Barcelona and Internazionale tried to sign him too.

“It was a difficult situation for Manchester United because Sir Alex Ferguson is not a friend of Real Madrid and does not see eye to eye with us: we are a rival, in winning titles and directly in European competition.

“But the player solved the problem by keeping his word to join us and rejecting Barca. This showed his determination to not go to any club other than Real Madrid. He rejected them and that is certain.”