Cristiano Ronaldo has picked his Portuguese teammate Raphael Guerreiro has his ideal Real Madrid signing from a choice of all Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund players.
According to German magazine Freunde (h/t Goal), Ronaldo has iterated that he would love to play alongside his Portugal teammate and Borussia left-back Raphael Guerreiro when asked to pick from Bayern Munich and Dortmund players.
The summer of 2016 was excellent for Ronaldo has he won the UEFA Champions League for the third time in his illustrious playing career and two months later lifted the elusive European Championships trophy. Left-back Raphael Guerreiro played a key role in Portugal’s win.
Prior to the commencement of the tournament, Guerreiro moved to the Signal Igunda Park from Ligue 1 side Lorient for a relatively low-cut price of £9.5 million. After a good display at the Euros, he has carried on his good run of form and has become a key part of manager Thomas Tuchel’s plans at Dortmund.
Guerreiro could have found himself playing in the La Liga this season, but in a recent interview, he revealed that he turned down approaches from Barcelona to move to Dortmund. The Catalan side were in the hunt for a potential understudy for Jordi Alba and decided to go for Lucas Digne after Guerreiro opted to move to Germany.
“It was a very difficult decision to say no to Barcelona. But there came a moment where I had to make a decision and Borussia Dortmund’s offer convinced me the most,” the defender told Canal+(h/t Daily Mail).
“I need to play regularly this season and get minutes under my belt in order to keep developing. And I have been fortunate that things have been going very well for me in Germany,” he added.
The Portuguese defender could be looked at as a viable candidate by Real boss Zinedine Zidane. In the absence of Marcelo, Fabio Coentrao has not proved to be an apt replacement, and Guerreiro may fit the bill at Santiago Bernabeu.
Ronaldo already has a couple of Portuguese players in Coentrao and Pepe, and Guerriero could take little to no time to adapt to life in the Spanish capital. Also, with Coentrao’s contract expiring at the end of the season, Zizou could be in the market for the Dortmund left-back in the summer.
