Bayern Munich chief blasts Juventus over Ronaldo's transfer fee

Kolkata, August 3: With clubs breaking records for highest transfer fees almost every season now, there would not be many players in the foreseeable future who will actually cross what Cristiano Ronaldo has done.

The Portuguese captain is the only player to cross the €100 million mark at the age of 33. And although the ex-Real Madrid star shows no signs of ageing or going past his prime, his move has been doubted by the Bayern Munich chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Rummenigge said Bayern would have never paid such an amount for Ronaldo. The former Bayern player said that he was contacted to make aware of Ronaldo’s intentions to move by his agent Jorge Mendes.

"It's the transfer that has received the most attention so far. And I understand that," Rummenigge told German newspaper Tz.

"This is about a player who has won everything with Real in the past few years. He has been voted the best player in the world five times, so all in all he is a great footballer.

“Marketing has certainly played a big role in this transfer. Nevertheless, we at Bayern Munich would not invest so much money in a 33-year-old."

Ronaldo shockingly revealed his intentions to leave Madrid after the club’s third successive UEFA Champions League victory in May. And though he had earlier expressed his desire to end his career in the Major League Soccer, his move to Serie A suggests that the forward still has many more years in front of him.

"After the Champions League final, he had already let shine through that he plans to leave the club," Rummenigge added.

"I also knew from his advisor Jorge Mendes, who also cared for our players Renato Sanches and James [Rodriguez], that this was not to be shot from the hip, but to take seriously.

"Nevertheless, I was surprised that my colleague Andrea Agnelli finally decided to go into this business.

"In Italy, he has earned great acclaim - from Juve's point of view the transfer makes sense, after all, Italian football had recently lost some ground.

"With this big deal, the Italians are now hoping that they will once again come into the focus of world football."

Rummenigge also claimed that though the German giants would not have signed him, Ronaldo’s only destination in the Bundesliga would have be Bayern Munich.