AC Milan striker Robinho has revealed his disappointment at having to leave Real Madrid at early stage in his Spanish career. AC Milan forward Robinho left Real Madrid after a bitter argument with the club when they decided to sign Manchester United winger Ronaldo during the 2008-09 season. Robinho said at that time that he was extremely disappointed at the fact that Real Madrid were not seeing him as the ideal candidate instead of Ronaldo. There were rumours that Real Madrid were involved in negotiations with Manchester United over a possible swap deal involving Robinho and Ronaldo.

Robinho objected to this and left to Manchester city at the start of the transfer window in the summer of 2009. Manchester City paid a then British record transfer fee of £ 35 million for the player. Ronaldo was signed by Real Madrid for a world record transfer fee of £ 80 million. Robinho has since left for AC Milan, where he has been extremely successful in the last few seasons. Now, he has spoken about his disappointment at not being able to achieve a lot with Spanish club Real Madrid. Robinho is one of the few players in the world to have played in the three great leagues of Europe.

“I had some great moments there, but my farewell was a disappointment. Real wanted to buy someone else [Cristiano Ronaldo] and all of a sudden they were no longer interested in me. I feel really sorry for the way I left Madrid, but the fans don’t always understand what happens in these cases. The deal eventually fell through [although they signed Ronaldo a year later] and the club was not happy,” Robinho told in an interview. Robinho has so far scored four goals in 22 appearances for AC Milan this season.