Responding to fans at a hotel in Helsinki, who asked Perez to take Ronaldo back to the Santiago Bernabeu, the club's president jokingly replied: "Sign Cristiano? Again? He's 38 years old!"

Ronaldo scored an astonishing 450 goals in his 438 appearances for Real Madrid, establishing himself as one of the club's greatest ever players. He won the Champions League four times in the space of five seasons between 2014 and 2018, but only managed to win two La Liga crowns amid a period of sustained dominance from rivals Barcelona.