Ronaldo offered me money to stay at Real Madrid – Pepe

Former Real Madrid defender Pepe has disclosed that Cristiano Ronaldo generously offered him a portion of his own salary in a bid to persuade him to remain at the Santiago Bernabeu during their shared time at the club.

Despite Ronaldo’s generous gesture, Pepe ultimately departed Madrid in 2017 for reasons unrelated to financial matters, choosing to join Besiktas in Turkey instead.

Pepe and Ronaldo have enjoyed a strong bond both on and off the field, having played together for both club and country prior to Pepe’s retirement following Euro 2024 in Germany.

The two Portuguese footballers initially crossed paths at the Sporting CP academy before reuniting at Real Madrid in 2009.

Despite forming a solid defensive partnership with Sergio Ramos at Madrid for several seasons, Pepe, who was reportedly earning £110,000 per week, made the decision to move to Besiktas as a free agent in 2017.

However, Ronaldo went to great lengths, offering him a portion of his own £365,000 weekly salary in a last-minute attempt to convince him to stay at Madrid.

“I tried to explain to him that I could no longer be there because of the difficulties I was having at the time and he said: ‘If it’s about the money, mate, I’ll give up my money to give it to you!’ And I said no: ‘Thank God it’s not about that; it’s for other reasons,” Pepe said in an interview with Renascenca (via GOAL).

“I also wanted to get back to feeling football, and that’s it, I decided to go to Turkey.”