Ronaldo: Manchester is my past, Madrid is my home

• Posted on September 16, 2013September 16, 2013
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo has ended any speculation that he could be on his way back toManchester United by signing a new three-year extension to his contract which will keep him at the club until 2018.

Goal exclusively revealed back in June that los Blancos planned to renew Ronaldo’s deal following the successful completion of signing Gareth Bale from Tottenham this summer.

Ronaldo, who has scored 203 goals in as many games since his €94 million move from Old Trafford in 2009, insists he has no intention of leaving the Santiago Bernabeu.

“I will be honest with you. Everyone knows I was in Manchester for six years, they gave me many things, and I don’t forget that,” he told reporters.

“But Manchester is the past, now it’s Madrid. This is my home, my family’s here, I’m really happy here.

“I respect the clubs who knocked on the door to ask about me, but they always knew my only goal was to be here and to play at this club, maybe until the end of my career.

“Nobody knows the future, but I’m going to be here for five more years and I just want to win trophies for this club. I try to do my best, like always.”

Ronaldo’s future at the club was in doubt when the forward publicly revealed he was “sad” and rumours suggested that he was not happy with the support he was receiving from the club.

The 28-year-old says it is all forgotten about now and he is targeting another 200 goals for Madrid in the next five years.

“I’m an ambitious person and I don’t want to set any limit. I’m going to try to score 200 more goals in the next four or five years here. It’s not the most important thing, but I’m going to try it.

“Leaving Real Madrid was something I could think about. I wanted to stay at this club, the best in the world in my opinion. If you leave Real Madrid, there is not another destination, because you are already on the top.”

The new deal, which will reportedly see Ronaldo become the highest paid player in La Liga with a net salary of €17m, was already being negotiated at the end of last season, the Portuguese star revealed and he insists it is not about the money.

“We have an agreement since the end of the last season, but we’ve made it concrete now,” he added.

“The president gave me his word and I gave him mine. This is something I always wanted. The feeling I had was to stay at this club and it didn’t took long to make the decision, at least for me.

“Being the best paid in the world was not the main thing. There are many things more important that just money. I’m not going to lie to you: it’s important, but not the priority. There is a winning project, being at the best team in the world, the one that signs the best players.

“This club has enough size to win more Champions Leagues, more Ligas, more Copas… Money was not a big deal. Being the first one, the second one or the third one is not important, because I feel great.”

GOAL