Jorge Valdano has revealed that Real Madrid were asked to sell Arjen Robben and did not force the Dutchman out of the club, but admitted that selling Wesley Sneijder was a priority.
Los Merengues' director general explained that Robben was one of the players that the club were keen to sell in June before Manuel Pellegrini asked him to stay.
When the Dutchman did not play regularly in pre-season his father Hans, who also acts as his agent, asked Madrid to listen to what Bayern Munich were proposing.
"He was invited to leave the club at the start of the summer after Cristiano Ronaldo signed but the coach was keen for him to stay," Valdano told Onda Cero radio station.
"He enjoyed the time he was given to play and even when he was not starting he still did well "
"But his father indicated his concern and asked the club to accept the offers that were coming in for the player "
Sneijder did not want to leave Real Madrid after just two seasons, but Valdano has revealed that once the club started to add to their midfield options he was always likely to go.
"If Kaka joined then Sneijder would go and if Ronaldo joined then Robben would leave. That is normal thinking " he continued.
"When Barca thought about signing [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic they knew that Samuel Eto'o would have to go "
"If Robben had stayed then Gonzalo Higuain would have found it more difficult to play often "
"Selling Sneijder was hard because he was not keen on going to Italy, but in the end he was convinced that Inter is a great club and that he would be able to play regularly there and not at Madrid "
Rafael van der Vaart was also reportedly told that he was not wanted only to now win his place back in the squad after Esteban Granero was even given his shirt number.
"Once Sneijder and Robben left I felt that Van der Vaart had a place in the squad " Valdano added.
"It is true that for a long time, throughout the summer, we considered selling him, but at times the market means you can think again and that was important."