I Am Slightly Sad About Ronaldo’s Departure – Van der Vaart
Aug 28, 2018 at 7:58 AM
Former Real Madrid star Van der Vaart feels Cristiano Ronaldo should have stayed in Real Madrid like Lionel Messi is staying in Barcelona.
Van der Vaart played with Cristiano Ronaldo at Los Blancos.
The former Madrid man has revealed that he is quite said about Ronaldo’s departure to Juventus. After winning three Champions League in a row, Ronaldo big good bye to the Los Blancos in the summer transfer window. The deal costed 112m (£101m/$130m).
Ronaldo’s sudden decision shocked the football world and with Van der Vaart, it was no different.
Van der Vaart told Football.ua:
“I’m slightly sad about Ronaldo’s departure. It would have been better If I could still see the battle between Ronaldo and Messi in La Liga. You know, guys like Messi… Messi will never leave Barcelona.”
The former Blancos midfielder was on the books in Madrid when Ronaldo made a big-money arrival in the summer of 2009. He didn’t had a good time at the Santiago Bernabue, but the Dutchman has no regrets.
He also admitted that there was initially rival interest in his signature as he prepared to leave Hamburg. But it was only Real Madrid that attracted him me the most.
“I do not know anything about [interest from] Atletico Madrid. Valencia – yes, they wanted to buy me and were ready to pay big money. So I said ‘okay’ and stayed. And then when Real Madrid came it was an easy decision, especially considering that my mother is from Spain and I’m half Spanish. My family still lives there, so it was just fantastic. It is the greatest club in the world, so it was something special. Real are the only club whose shirt I wore every day and thought: ‘Wow, I did it!’. That is what is so great about Real Madrid.”
The Dutchman is currently working for Danish football. He signed a one-year deal with Esbjerg this summer after reaching the end of his contract at FC Midtjylland.