Robinho had been linked with a move away from the Bernabeu all summer and, although Real had already rejected bids from Chelsea, speculation was still rife that he was set to join the Blues.

Calderon claimed at the weekend that Robinho was going nowhere, but a shock swoop at the 11th hour on transfer deadline day saw the Brazilian move to City.

"Robinho had a problem with his frame of mind that was more important than we thought it was," Calderon told AS. "I spoke with him several times.

"When he talked about his situation he cried and asked to leave Spain.

"His departure from Madrid is not only for sporting reasons, there's something more which I can't understand.

"What's important is that the group is not weakened by a player who will only be upset.

"It is not the objective of Madrid to sell players. We have to defend the interests of the club.

"The reasons in this case were human kindness and sporting. The lad was feeling very bad."

Real have faced criticism in their dealings in the transfer market over the summer with Rafael van der Vaart the only new face at the Bernabeu for the coming season.

However, while Calderon claims the club could bring in more players in the the winter transfer window, he insists the current squad are good enough to successfully defend their Primera Liga crown.

"I spoke with (coach Bernd) Schuster and he has a very positive attitude," he continued. "He took the sale of Robinho well.

"We're not ruling out signing another player in December. We have a free space but to sign someone we need to release others.

"The opportunities we had to sign weren't tempting and the interesting players weren't for sale.

"We did all we could but there will always be critics.

Calderon added: "It wasn't a question of saving - Real Madrid don't need to do that. The player who could have brought something wasn't on the market.

"The coach is very confident in the squad. We will give a lot of happiness to our supporters.

"We have a squad where it is difficult to drop players. Last year we beat the record of points, of the least goals conceded, the best goalscorer...

"We have to be confident in this squad."

Real were involved in pursuing high-profile players all summer but failed to land either of their main targets, Cristiano Ronaldo and David Villa.

Ronaldo was supposed to be the great coup for Real as they tracked the Manchester United star for months.

Calderon insists he has not given up on getting his man in the future, despite having had a world-record bid turned down by United.

"We will bring him in when Manchester want to sell him," he said. "The player wanted to come but then when he saw that his club wouldn't let him go, he reconsidered his position and announced that he was very happy at United.

"You have to accept that, it's the law of the market. Our last offer was 70million euros.

"What I can say is that Robinho was not involved in the deal. If Cristiano had come we would have used the place of the the third goalkeeper."