Real Madrid began their hunt for Ronaldo during Ramon Calderon's tenure as president. Calderon and Ronaldo agreed that the player would move to Real Madrid in 2008. Before the Portuguese winger signed a contract, though, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson convinced him to stay in England for another year. Real Madrid were playing a friendly match in Bogota, Colombia, when news of the postponed deal filtered through to Calderon.
"I got up in the morning to receive a phone call from Real Madrid," Calderon told Bleacher Report. "They said, 'You know what? Cristiano has announced that he's extended his contract.' I said, 'It can't be.'
"Fifteen or 20 minutes later, I got a phone call from Cristiano, saying, 'Mr. President, I'm so sorry. I have to do this because I'm quite happy with the club. Ferguson is like a father to me. I'm in love with the fans, everything here, but we have an agreement I will go next year.'
"I said, 'Of course. It's up to you.' So we arranged everything for the next year. We got all the documents done."
"The problem was that when Florentino came, he said, 'This is not a player for Real Madrid,'" says Calderon. He didn't like to receive inheritances that he couldn't be proud of in the future. He thought, 'This player is not mine. I'm not going to take advantage of this.' He said, 'I think I can have two or three players for the same money. I don't see Cristiano Ronaldo playing at Real Madrid.'
"The player knew that. He got very angry. His agent, Jorge Mendes, said, 'OK, we're going to leave. We are not going to claim the penalty clause.'"
According to Diego Torres, a journalist with El Pais, Real Madrid would sell Ronaldo before his younger, buccaneering team-mate Bale. At this moment in time, however, it wouldn't be acceptable to sell Ronaldo politically. Fans would kick up a fuss. Perez must bide his time.
"Florentino doesn't like Cristiano," says Torres. "He didn't buy him. Florentino dreamed of Bale as a Golden Shoe winner, scoring spectacular goals. His dream is to switch Cristiano with Bale because he created Bale as a superstar. He made him the first €100 million player. He feels Bale is his creation, that everyone relates Bale to him, to Florentino."
He's tired. The play of Cristiano is fundamentally physical. He's not like Messi. He's a beast, a machine. The age will pass a bill to Cristiano," says Miguel Angel Linares, author of a book on the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona entitled Madrid-Barca: ¡Es La Guerra!
Ronaldo is not Real Madrid's first icon. Others such as Di Stefano, Emilio Butragueno and Raul, whose goalscoring record at Real Madrid will be surpassed by Ronaldo within a year at his current scoring rate, have come and gone. Significantly, none of them finished their playing careers at the club.
Sport is a brutal marketplace that way. Real Madrid, especially while fronted by a president who casts a cold eye on his inherited livestock, could look to cash in on Ronaldo.
Perhaps not this summer, but within a year, the club might think it's time to say, "Adios, Cristiano."