"Cristiano wanted to leave Madrid in 2017" - ex-Milan's Fassone
Former director of AC Milan, Marco Fassone discusses the club's failed attempt to bring the now-Juventus player to Serie A a year earlier.
The former director of Milan, Marco Fassone, confirmed to finance paper Sole24Ore that Cristiano Ronaldo wanted to leave Real Madrid in the summer of 2017 and was in talks with the Rossoneri, who were ultimately unable to sign him due to financial constraints.
AC Milan's 2017 flirt with Cristiano
According to Fassone, the Serie A club president at the time, Yonghong Li, tried to make the transfer a reality.
"Mr Li wanted Cristiano in the team because he believed it would have had a massive impact on the Chinese market.
"The player wanted to leave Madrid," he continued. "We met with his agent Jorge Mendes in July 2017 to verify price and the availability of the player. I then convinced him [the president] to abandon the dream: Cristiano was too expensive."
Relive @Cristiano's first ⚽️'s for Juventus 🔛 https://t.co/8iZ5bhkzPZ ⏯ https://t.co/2rOfJvKZvl #ForzaJuve #CR7JUVE pic.twitter.com/CtnaSYeRlk
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) November 16, 2018
Related stories
During the interview, Fassone also highlighted the work done by the board last season:
"I think Milan had an excellent board of directors leading it. We raised 20 million more in revenue with a margin of 50 million more."