Former Real Madrid star, Rafael Van der Vaart, has finally commented on forward, Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from Real Madrid to Juventus.
Ronaldo left Madrid as their all-time highest goalscorer to join the Italian giants earlier this summer in a 100-million-euro deal.
Van der Vaart, who recently penned a one-year deal with Esbjerg this summer after reaching the end of his contract at FC Midtjylland, said he was disappointed with Ronaldo’s departure.
The 35-year-old, however, said Ronaldo should have followed the lead of Barcelona star, Lionel Messi and stayed at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“You know, guys like Messi… Messi will never leave Barcelona,” Van der Vaart told Ukrainian news outlet, Football.ua.
“I’m slightly sad about Ronaldo’s departure.”
He added: “I do not know anything about [interest from] Atletico Madrid. Valencia – yes, they wanted to buy me and were ready to pay big money, but Hamburg refused. 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.”
Comments