Cristiano Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes has made a surprising revelation about the player’s transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus last summer.

In a surprised move to many, Ronaldo moved from Madrid to the reigning Italian Serie A champions last summer in a deal worth €117 million.

Ronaldo had won four Champions League titles during his time with Los Blancos, which included the last three successive editions of the tournament. During his nine years at the Santiago Bernaubeu, he also won two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey titles as well as three Fifa Club World Cups.

The transfer marked the first time that the reigning Ballon d’Or winner had switched clubs since Jean-Pierre Papin left Marseille to link up with AC Milan in 1992.

After spending nearly a decade at Madrid, many people would have expected Ronaldo to remain with the club until the end of his career. However, in a surprise turn of events, Ronaldo had hinted that he could be on his way out of Spain following his side’s Champions League final victory against Liverpool.

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Ronaldo’s agent Mendes has now revealed that the transfer was discussed as early as January.

He eventually switched to Juventus and will be hoping to finally help the Old Lady of Italian football win the Champions League. Juve have played in the final of Europe’s Premier club competition twice in recent years and come away runners-up twice, although they can be backed with Betway’s generous welcome offer at odds of 13/2 for success this term.

“[Ronaldo] is the best player in the history of the game, so a lot of teams wanted him,” Mendes said via Tuttosport, according to ​Goal. “Even so, Juve deserve a lot of credit for making this deal happen. At that moment in time, I did not think that a deal would be possible, but I guess that I was wrong.

“I met up with [Sporting Director Fabio] Paratici and [vice-chairman Pavel] Nedved before the Juve-Real game in Turin [in April] and I then met up with [Juve President Andrea] Agnelli, too. That’s when I started to believe that a deal was possible.”

Since moving to Juventus, Ronaldo has been a success. He has so bagged 11 goals and recorded six assists from 16 league games for the Italian club to date.