Sir Alex Ferguson wanted Cristiano Ronaldo to join Barcelona instead of Real Madrid

Former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has told IBTimes UK that former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson tried to block Cristiano Ronaldo's move to the Santiago Bernabeu due to his obsession with the La Liga giants

Calderon resigned as president of Real Madrid in January 2009, while Ronaldo left Old Trafford for the Bernabeu in the summer of that year.

But the president told IBTimes UK that he was the one who made the deal a reality, not current president Florentino Perez, as the £80m ($121m) agreement that saw Ronaldo joining Madrid was reached in 2008.

And Calderon claimed that during that whole year, Ferguson made every effort to stop the Portuguese moving to Real Madrid due to his obsession with Los Blancos and even offered Barcelona the chance to sign him instead.

"We agreed his signing after two years of negotiations. He was signed on 12 December 2008, just one month before my departure," Calderon said.

"It was hard because United didn't want him to leave. I spoke several times with David Gill, who was then one of United officials and whom I still keep a strong relationship. Ferguson did not want him to leave but they had to accept that the player wanted to go.

"He was indeed going to come the year before but I remember Ronaldo had a press conference to say that he was going to stay at Old Trafford instead.

"Ronaldo then called me to say that he will come the following year. He told me that he had a commitment with Ferguson and with the United supporters to stay one more year but that he had agreed with the club to move the following summer. And so it happened. He agreed with United to let him go to Real Madrid for £80m and so was signed the following year.

"But during that year Ferguson tried to block the deal. Ferguson has always had an obsession with Real Madrid because they know we were the club that overshadowed them. So he tried to block Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid by offering him to Barcelona. Barcelona welcomed the news but the player insisted he just wanted to go to Real Madrid."

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