Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has reaffirmed that he baulked at the salary demands of Angel Di Maria, and insisted that Cristiano Ronaldo would continue to be the highest-paid player at the club.
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The Argentina international made a British-record 59.7 million-pound transfer ($97 million) to Manchester United this window, and suggested in an open letter that "many things were said and many lies circulated" by the club -- but Perez says the midfielder's demands were unreasonable.
"Madrid made the best offer you could to a football player and he didn't accept," Perez told a news conference on Friday. "No one was going to make that kind of money but Cristiano."
Ronaldo is the second-highest earner in Spanish football, earning a reported 18 million euros per year behind Barcelona's Lionel Messi (20 million euros).
Perez said that no player is indispensable and reiterated that it was Di Maria's decision to go, stating: "Since I came in in 2000, players have come and gone. When someone goes, he is the best. When someone arrives, he is questioned. Di Maria has our love, recognition and respect.
"I have never spoken ill of a player who has been with me and then left. But a player who has an active contract leaves because he wants to, because we have always complied with contracts. He had some legitimate economic requests that Madrid did not meet.
"It is a personal decision and we can't do anything else. If we had accepted his conditions, it would have created a situation that would have put the club's finances in danger of being unstable. That's why we added James Rodriguez. It is satisfying that Di Maria has fit into another club and that we have been given a transfer sum that we consider fair."
Perez shrugged off comments made by Cristiano Ronaldo to Spanish media about the transfer activity at the Bernabeu, saying: "I know him well. He didn't want to be inconsiderate toward the new players. In addition, he likes them. I have no discrepancies with him."
The Portugal captain -- currently out injured -- said that while he did not want to talk too much about the transfer dealings, he hinted that he himself would have done things differently.
"I have my very clear opinion, but I must calculate and I cannot always say what I think because tomorrow I will be on the front of the papers and I do not want that," Ronaldo said earlier this week.
"But if I was in charge, maybe I would not do things like that. Everyone has their opinion and is free to say what they think. If the president thinks that the best thing for the team is to sign these players and let go those who left then we have to respect and support his decision."