Cristiano Ronaldo throws shade at Florentino Perez

The 33-year old who joined Real Madrid from Manchester United nine seasons ago after inspiring the team to four champions League titles left the Los Blancos this season for Juventus.

Cristiano Ronaldo has stated the reason for his Real Madrid, after the Los Blancos 5-1 mauling by Barcelona.

“He only ever looked at me as a business relationship,” he said.

“I know it. What he told me never came from the heart.”

The club has claimed Ronaldo’s transfer was instigated “at the will and the request of the player”. The Portugal international suggested Pérez’s attitude towards him had changed.

“I felt it inside the club, especially from the president, that they no longer considered me the same way that they did in the start,” he said. “In the first four or five years there, I had the feeling of being ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’. Less afterwards. The president looked at me through eyes that didn’t want to say the same thing, as if I was no longer indispensable to them, if you know what I mean.

“That’s what made me think about leaving. Sometimes I’d look at the news, where they were saying I was asking to leave. There was a bit of that, but the truth is that I always had the impression that the president would not hold me back. If it had all been about money, I’d have moved to China, where I would have earned five times as much than here [at Juventus] or at Real. I did not come to Juve for the money. I earned the same in Madrid, if not more. The difference is that, at Juve, they really wanted me. They told me that and made it clear. They showed me that.”

Asked whether the manager Zinedine Zidane’s decision to leave after overseeing a third successive European Cup win had influenced his move, Ronaldo said: “My decision to leave was not based on his departure. That being the case, it’s one of those little things that made me feel a bit better in terms of what I thought of the situation at the club.”

The 33-year-old, who scored 44 goals for Madrid last season and has seven for Juventus, is aiming to win the Ballon d’Or for a third year in a row. “I think I deserve it this year … Yes, I dream of winning the Ballon d’Or for the sixth time and passing, in this case, Lionel Messi.”