Speaking to the Kuwaiti sports programme Super, the Atlético president was direct when asked about the possibility.
"Cristiano Ronaldo is without doubt a fantastic player, but he could never have played for Atlético Madrid," Cerezo said, a stance in line with comments he has made whenever the pairing has been raised in the past.
Ronaldo left Real Madrid in 2018 after nine seasons at the club, going on to join Juventus, return to Manchester United and eventually move to Saudi Arabia in 2023. His name resurfaced as an Atletico Madrid possibility in the summer of 2022, when the forward was actively seeking a way out of Manchester and reportedly considered clubs still competing in the Champions League, with Atlético briefly mentioned among the potential destinations before the operation failed to materialise.
Cerezo dismissed the idea at the time too, calling any move "practically impossible."
The speculation, however brief, sparked considerable debate among Atlético supporters given Ronaldo's history as a Real Madrid legend. During his time at the Bernabéu, he scored 25 goals in 35 appearances against Atlético, making the idea of him wearing red and white deeply uncomfortable for a fanbase built around the rivalry with Real Madrid.
That history gives Cerezo's latest comments added weight. The Atlético president was careful not to question Ronaldo's stature as a player.
"Any club would have been delighted to have a player of his calibre," he said.
But acknowledging his greatness and picturing him in an Atlético shirt, in Cerezo's telling, are two entirely different things. His remarks close what has remained one of the more curious footnotes of Atlético's recent transfer history: Ronaldo appeared on the club's radar more than once, but he never walked through the doors of the Metropolitano as a player.
Ronaldo, now 41, remains a key figure at Al-Nassr and continues to represent Portugal at international level, meaning any prospect of a late-career switch to Spanish football looks increasingly remote regardless of what Cerezo has to say on the matter.
For Atlético supporters who spent much of 2022 debating the merits of such a move, the club president's latest comments will likely be read as a final word on a saga that, in reality, never came close to happening.