Real to splash on CR7

Jose Mourinho.

Perez said: “I would like Cristiano Ronaldo to be the best-paid player in the world. We’re going to do everything at our hand to make him happy.”

The former Manchester United superstar has been linked with a return to Old Trafford this summer — and with a move to mega-rich French champions Paris Saint-Germain — but Perez is determined to keep him at Madrid for some time yet.

Ronaldo has been a prolific scorer since his £80million move to Spain in 2009, netting an extraordinary 146 goals in 135 games.

Perez insisted that superstar Ronaldo will not be leaving the club, despite reports of a big-money offer from PSG.

The president has hinted that Real will make Ronaldo the best paid player on the planet again, in order to keep him happy.

And Perez also says that when push came to shove, Los Blancos were not prepared to compete with Barcelona in the high-stakes and complicated race to sign Brazil star Neymar. Regarding CR7, Perez explained: “He told me in the summer he was sad and I told him we would do everything possible for him to be content.

“I don’t know if he has an offer from PSG. I think Cristiano is the best player in the world. We want to build the Madrid of the future around him and I would like Cristiano to be the best paid player in the world.”

And in relation to Real’s ultimately fruitless game of chicken with Barca over Neymar, Perez added: “If we had been able to sign Neymar without altering the eco-system of the club we would have, but there were too many conditions attached.

“It would have cost us €150 million. I don’t know how much it cost Barcelona.”

Perez also said the Spanish club does not yet know who their new manager will be after Mourinho leaves, but that Zinedine Zidane will be at the heart of Los Blancos’ future.

The French legend played for Real Madrid from 2001 until 2006. He has been “director of football” at the Bernabeu for the past two seasons, but nobody really knows what he has actually been doing in that role.

What “Zizou” has done recently is work on his coaching badges, and Perez believes he will manage Los Blancos in the future.

But for now, when a new manager is appointed, Zidane will take on a more hands-on role in Real Madrid’s development.

“We don’t know who will be the new coach,” Perez told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser yesterday.

“But we want this new sporting project to be led by Zidane.

“I hope one day he will be coach. When we choose the coach, the new person and him (Zidane) will analyse the team so we can take a qualitative step forward.

“We have a magnificent team. All I can say is that we will improve by signing the best.

“I have thought about two players and some more from the youth team. We will see what the coach and Zidane say.”

The Madrid president also insisted that despite numerous instances of player revolt and mutiny against the “Special One” this season, the players had nothing but good things to say about Mourinho.

He added: “The players only had good words about Mourinho. They told me that he was the best.
Perez also touched on Mourinho’s time in charge and was broadly defensive of the Portuguese coach, although he did admit that he didn’t agree with the former Chelsea boss’ decision to drop captain Iker Casillas.

“What happens is that when Mourinho makes a mistake it has worldwide attention.

“Although the club thinks that Casillas is the best in the world, you can’t enter into a technical decision.”

And the man that in the past signed the likes of Zidane, Luis Figo, David Beckham and Ronaldo as players reflected on his failure to lure Neymar to the club after the Brazilian agreed to join Barcelona over the weekend.

“Three years ago there was a chance to sign him and we wanted to take advantage of it, but then the club wouldn’t let him leave and they renewed his contract,” he said.

“He seems to me like a magnificent player and I would have signed him if the conditions wouldn’t have altered the eco-system of the club.

Meanwhile, Zidane’s first job is to bring Tottenham’s superstar Gareth Bale to the Spanish capital – even if it costs £65million.

The club have long been admirers of the Welsh winger and a link-up with Ronaldo would make Madrid a formidable force next season. — Mailonline-AFP.