Gary, former United Captain, reveals why Ronaldo Left MUFC For Real Madrid
Football pundit, English club coach and former captain of Manchester United, Gary Alexander Neville has revealed his thought about why Portuguese professional footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo left Old Trafford for Real Madrid.
According to Gary in a recent interview, Ronaldo had left the ‘Red Devil’ squad for Spanish club then because he is not enjoying the weather in England.
Naijaparry News understands that Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid in 2009 with a signing clause of £80m, a whooping fee that made the LaLiga player a world-record purchase at the time.
Speaking about Ronaldo’s move, Neville reveals that though the Portuguese national is kind of a player United will not wish to let go but the squad never tried to persuade him to stay.
He said: “I think because he did the interview after the 2008 final where he sort of alluded to the fact that he was going, it was almost like you had an advanced warning.
“So you were almost ready-prepared for it, you knew he was leaving the year after. It was coming, it was obvious that one day he would want to go and experience Madrid and La Liga,” said Neville in a chat with the Sky Sports.
“I didn’t speak to Cristiano for instance about him staying at the club for longer. I think I may have said to him during the year when he was maybe… the weather was a big problem for Cristiano,” Neville admitted.
“I think he also wanted to obviously live in Spain and do La Liga. But the weather was a big problem for him and I felt like he’d almost travelled his path, he’d done the journey. And I didn’t feel that anything I was going to say was going to bring him out of that.
“I think generally with players that were leaving there were very few who were leaving to go up. Now Cristiano you could argue going to Real Madrid and winning four or five European Cups is a step for him where he wanted to challenge himself.”
“The players that were leaving mainly were because they had come to the end of the road for one reason or another, either their contracts had run out, or their age was getting too much, or the manager had had a word with them saying they’re not going to play football too much anymore.
He added: “Most of the players that left Man United would have wanted to stay. Let’s be clear, 99% of the players that left Man United during the time I was there would have stayed if the manager had said you’re staying. There’s only the one or two per cent who left against the wishes of the club.”