Madrid (DPA/States Perform)
Spanish football club Atletico Madrid has made a final decision not to sign veteran Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, club president Enrique Cerezo confirmed.
Speaking during the presentation of defender Nahuel Molina, to the media, today, Friday, Cerezo said that the Argentine international, who joined the team recently, was the “last piece” in the panorama of Atletico’s summer deals.
The statements of the Atletico president mean that Argentine coach Diego Simeone’s team is complete as far as Cerezo is concerned.
Molina moved to Atletico from Udinese, Italy, to become one of the Spanish team’s summer deals, which also includes Samuel Leno and Axel Witsel, as the team tried to strengthen its ranks with new players in the current transfer period, after the departure of a group of its stars, led by Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez.
“With this deal… we were able to get the last piece we were looking for,” Cerezo said.
“I repeat, for journalists, with this signature we were able to get the last piece we were looking for,” the Atlético president added.
Cerezo’s speech came to calm the associations of Atletico Madrid fans, a group of which announced their strong opposition to the possible contract with Ronaldo.
Cerezo had previously said that any deal to bring Ronaldo to Atletico from Manchester United was “practically impossible”.
Ronaldo, who won the Golden Ball award as the best player in the world five times, the historic scorer of Real Madrid, expressed his willingness to leave United after the Red Devils failed to qualify for the Champions League next season.
It is noteworthy that Sporting Lisbon, with whom Ronaldo began his football career, may be a possible destination for the 37-year-old, who scored 24 goals in all competitions with United last season, while the possibility of a “Madeira missile” transfer to Bayern Munich seemed unlikely as well.
Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes were at Manchester United’s training ground on Tuesday for talks about his future.
Atletico are scheduled to meet United in a friendly match on Saturday, and it is unlikely that Ronaldo will play any role in the meeting.
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