Florentino Perez dodged the issue of Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Real Madrid after being confirmed as the club’s president for another four years.
Long-serving Perez, who has already spent 14 years at the helm of the Bernabeu giants, was predictably re-elected to maintain his current position in the absence of any other candidates.
However, during his speech as part of a formal ceremony to usher in his latest term of office the 70 year-old did not even mention the recent rumours regarding Ronaldo, who is supposedly angling for a move away from Spain after being accused of tax evasion.
Perez, who did not take any questions from the media at the event, instead restricted himself to lauding the club’s achievements during his time in charge, but he was unlikely to get away so easily from a national radio interview scheduled for later in the night.
Meanwhile, his predecessor in the presidential hotseat, Ramon Calderon, has urged Perez to do everything within his power to keep Ronaldo, arguing it would be a “big mistake” to let the Portuguese star leave.
Will he stay or will he go? Ronaldo.
Calderon, who was responsible for brokering the transfer which brought bring Ronaldo to Madrid from Manchester United in 2009, believes it would be impossible to replace the man who scored 16 goals in his final 10 games of last season as Los Blancos completed a league and European double.
Some pundits have suggested that Madrid would be making a good deal if they sold a 32 year-old for a world record fee, but Calderon disagreed as he said: “I think he will stay and I hope so.
“It would be very bad business to sell him. It doesn’t matter what we can get for him. There is no replacement for him. I don’t see anybody in world football who can substitute for him.
“It would be a big mistake if Florentino Perez doesn’t try to keep him with us. It took me a long time and a big effort to sign him when Man United didn’t want to let him go. We have to keep him.”
Most observers haven’t taken Ronaldo’s threat to leave particularly seriously, concluding that he is engineering the situation to attract attention and possibly earn a pay rise from his current employers rather than being serious in his intention to leave.
Calderon, however, isn’t so sure and fears Ronaldo may have actually made an irrevocable decision to move, saying: “He is very strong-minded and when he decides something he goes through with it.”
If Ronaldo does depart, a move to Bayern Munich is off the cards after the German giants took the unusual step of publicly denying rumours linking them with a swoop for the Portuguese ace.
“We are accustomed to intensive speculation on possible arrivals and departures during the transfer period,” said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
“In the case of Cristiano Ronaldo, we want to clarify once and for all that this rumour has no basis and must be referred to in the realm of fables.”