Cristiano Ronaldo reveals the true reason behind his Real Madrid exit | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that a change in his relationship with Florentino Pérez was the main reason behind his decision to leave Real Madrid this summer.

The Ballon d’Or winner opted to depart Los Blancos after nine years, having won 15 major trophies with the Santiago Bernabéu outfit.

Juventus eventually paid €100m to land the 33-year-old, where he’s since gone on to score seven goals in all competitions so far for the Bianconeri.

And for the very first time, Ronaldo has conceded that the shifting in his relationship with the hierarchy at Real Madrid were his main reasoning for the move.

“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,” he told France Football.

“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 that I always had the impression that the president would not hold me back.

“If it had all been about money, I’d have moved to China, where I would have earned five times as much than here [at Juventus] or at Real. I did not come to Juve for the money.

“I earned the same in Madrid, if not more. The difference is that, at Juve, they really wanted me. They told me that and made it clear. They showed me that.”

Asked whether Zinedine Zidane’s decision to step down as coach immediately after winning the Champions League in Kyiv had anything to do with his own departure, Ronaldo said: “My decision to leave was not based on his departure.

“That being the case, it’s one of those little things that made me feel a bit better in terms of what I thought of the situation at the club.”

Whilst Ronaldo has continued his goalscoring ways in Serie A, Real Madrid look to be on the verge of sacking coach Julen Lopetegui after their defeat to Barcelona on Sunday.