In an interview with Cadena COPE radio station yesterday, Cristiano Ronaldo spoke about a lot of things. The headline quote was that he wants to stay at Real Madrid for another 10 seasons, but he covered a lot more than this. Here are some of the topics that Ronaldo covered:
Ronaldo has recently been linked with a move to Manchester City, but the former Manchester United man insists he has no immediate plans to return to the Premier League:
“I can’t see myself leaving Madrid,” he told the Cadena COPE radio station. “I’m very happy here, it has been phenomenal.”
Ronaldo, who was reported to have been offered £400,000 a week to join City, says money is not a deciding factor in his future:
“If I was after just money I could have doubled what I have in my account,” he said. “But for me the most important thing is how people treat you. If the [Madrid] president [Florentino Perez] told me to sign on for 10 years today, I would do it – although I don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”
Ronaldo believes that Real Madrid has a side that can win the Champions League for the first time since 2002:
“We had the potential to win more [last season],” he said. “I’m not obsessed by the Champions League, but I’m very excited about winning it – if you have a good coach and good players, everything arrives sooner or later.”
And Ronaldo believes the Real manager, José Mourinho is the best there is:
“He knows what he has to do to make the team win and I am sure we will do better in his second year at Madrid, as happened with me,” he added. “Mourinho is the best: he has shown that in all the leagues he has coached in. He knows better than anyone that we have to improve in all aspects and only those who work with him know what he is like.”
Madrid have been linked with the Atlético Madrid forward Sergio Agüero, the Santos striker Neymar and the Benfica full-back Fábio Coentrão – and Ronaldo believes all three would be great signings.
“Kun [Agüero] and Neymar are two great players and Coentrão may be the best Portuguese player still playing in Portugal,” he said. “Fabio would be a great signing. He is a nice guy, he’s very ambitious, he runs a lot and he’s a very good player.”
Ronaldo also hopes Madrid will keep the striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who spent the second half of the season on loan at the Santiago Bernabéu from Manchester City.
“I would keep him,” he said. “He is a very good footballer, but an even better team-mate. He is also very important in the dressing room. He’s like Marcelo, he transmits a lot of joy and positive energy.”
Whichever players end up at Madrid next season, Ronaldo believes Barcelona can be caught.
“They won [last season] because they were the best, but no team is unbeatable,” he said. “Barça have a great team and a good coach, but we’ll get there. We have already shown in the cup and in other games [that we can compete]. We want to beat them and difficult things bring a different pleasure.”
