In the summer of 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo looked certain to move to Real Madrid. He spent all summer flirting with the Spanish club and insisting that only God knew his future.
However, Sir Alex Ferguson convinced the player to stay for another season, knowing that Ronaldo would move to Madrid the following summer. Ronaldo agreed and signed a contract extension, which helped us demand the world record transfer fee of £80 million.
Ramon Calderon, who was the Real Madrid president at the time, has spoken to Bleacher Report about how he found out that Ronaldo was staying at United.
I got up in the morning to receive a phone call from Real Madrid. They said, ‘You know what? Cristiano has announced that he’s extended his contract.’ I said, ‘It can’t be.’ Fifteen or 20 minutes later, I got a phone call from Cristiano, saying, ‘Mr. President, I’m so sorry. I have to do this because I’m quite happy with the club. Ferguson is like a father to me. I’m in love with the fans, everything here, but we have an agreement I will go next year.’ I said, ‘Of course. It’s up to you.’ So we arranged everything for the next year. We got all the documents done.
