Florentino Perez has allegedly stated that Cristiano Ronaldo is not Real Madrid’s best signing of the last 22 years, according to Toni Kroos’ agent, Volker Struth.
Raul, the player with the most goals in Real’s history before the arrival of Ronaldo in 2009, has 127 goals fewer than Ronaldo’s 450 total for the club.
The club’s president, according to Toni Kroos’ agent, believes that the German midfielder was a better acquisition for Los Blancos this century than Ronaldo.
According to many, Ronaldo—who passed the milestone of 800 goals in his career—would be the most recognizable and significant player for the Spanish giants this century.
The Portuguese superstar, who scored 450 goals in just 438 games in the Spanish capital, holds the record for most goals scored in Real Madrid history.
Despite not being the club president who orchestrated the trade, Perez was the president in charge when Ronaldo arrived in Madrid in the summer of 2009.
When Calderon was forced to leave his job in January of that year, he had already set up the framework for the £80 million move, which at the time set a record for the most money ever paid for a transfer.
Perez took over as club president after him that summer, and he has held the role ever since.
Toni Kroos’ agent Volker Struth recently disclosed that Perez selected his client over Cristiano Ronaldo as the club’s finest acquisition of the 20th century.
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In the summer of 2014, Kroos moved to Madrid from Bayern Munich thanks to a deal arranged by Perez.
The German has made 334 games for Real Madrid and has 13 trophies to his name in the Spanish capital. Throughout his career, he has also won the World Cup and four Champions League titles.
Since the midfielder came to Los Blancos in 2014 after winning the World Cup, things could have turned out very differently for Kroos and Perez. Before the competition, he had come close to signing with David Moyes’ Manchester United; he verbally approved the transfer when he met the Scotsman.
“I knew beforehand that United wanted me,” the German said of a meeting between himself and the then United Manager.
“And Moyes absolutely underlined that. It was a really nice afternoon with very pleasant people. We talked a lot about United’s football plan, which convinced me.
“In the end, we broke up to do it. So we agreed verbally. The next step should be to look at everything on the spot in Manchester.
“The move would not have been that complicated – after all, we only had one child at the time, seven months old. It would all have worked.”
Kroos lost out on the Premier League because Moyes was fired, but he later secured a move to the Bernabeu and became the team’s most significant acquisition in the previous 20 years.
Kroos moved to Madrid in the same month playmaker James Rodriguez and goalkeeper Keylor Navas joined the club. It was also in the same summer that Xabi Alonso made the opposite move to Bayern Munich.
Along with Casemiro and Luka Modric, the German has formed a potent three-man midfield unit. This group of players won two La Liga championships and three Champions League titles in a succession from 2016 to 2018.
Kroos will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most significant players in Real Madrid’s long history, and Perez’s decision to honor him above Ronaldo highlights how important he is to the team.
Ranking the Top 5 Biggest Signings at Real Madrid:
Gareth Bale
- Transfer fee: £85.85 million
- Game-time percentage: 61
- Outstanding value: £33.28 million
Cristiano Ronaldo
- Transfer fee: £79.90 million
- Game-time percentage: 84
- Outstanding value: £12.70 million
James Rodriguez
- Transfer fee: £63.75 million
- Game-time percentage: 49
- Outstanding value: £32.2 million
Kaka
- Transfer fee: £55.25 million
- Game-time percentage: 36
- Outstanding value: £35.16 million
Xabi Alonso
- Transfer fee: £30.09 million
- Game-time percentage: 76
- Outstanding value: £7.25 million
