Former Real Madrid boss Bernd Schuster has revealed his 'surprise' at his old club's pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo last summer.
The Spanish giants played out a lengthy close-season transfer saga as they unsuccessfully attempted to prise Ronaldo away from Manchester United.
Real made no secret of their admiration for the Portuguese star, who was crowned World Footballer of the Year and Ballon d'Or for his exploits last campaign, and they were reportedly prepared to offer a record fee.
But, despite the endless speculation, a move never materialised and Schuster, who left Real in December, has hit out at his ex-employers for their almost relentless attempts to sign Ronaldo.
"Look, we asked for three or four players if Cristiano didn't come," he told Marca .
"I understood the club would have to pay an extortionate fee to bring that kid, and they made it clear to me that if he came it would be very difficult to get anyone else. Maybe one more, but at a very low price.
Problems"But of course, if he didn't come we could bring someone else in, someone who we really needed.
"The thing is we didn't need Cristiano, that was more a theme the club had going. We knew that with him alone we wouldn't solve other problems because he can't defend nor play on the wing.
"The big surprise was that in the end nobody came."
And Schuster has admitted his disappointment that the club did not pursue Valencia star David Villa after missing out on Ronaldo and only capturing Rafael van der Vaart.
"They said they had no money. (There was money for Ronaldo) but not for the others," he added.
"I don't know why Villa never came, but I have an idea.
"What I thought was really odd was that we had a meeting in April to talk signings, as is normal, to decide things in good time. But then with all that time nothing was done about anything we spoke about."
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