The Portugal international, who joined AC Milan for a reported €74 million, said he sometimes struggled to understand why he was unable to secure a run in the starting line-up despite scoring regularly from the bench.
“During my last three years at PSG, I don’t think I ever managed four or five consecutive matches as a starter. Sometimes it was frustrating; it drove me mad. I even scored in four or five consecutive matches without starting once. And, for me, that made no sense. I talked about it with my family,” Ramos said in an interview with Portuguese broadcaster Canal 11.
The 25-year-old scored 45 goals and supplied 10 assists in 131 appearances for the French club, but he believed that publicly showing his frustration would only have made his situation more difficult.
“I knew that if I showed myself to be annoyed or resentful, it would work against me. If, on the other hand, I maintained my dignity and kept working, nobody could ever question my professionalism or say that I was sulking. They couldn’t say, ‘He didn’t give everything, he didn’t help, he got in a bad mood’.
“Of course, I felt bitter, but it was up to me to turn that frustration into something positive and convince myself that I would achieve great things.”
Ramos recalled a conversation with Vitinha during the UEFA Super Cup against Tottenham as an example of how he channelled that disappointment.
“We were at half-time, losing 1-0, I think. I told him, ‘Don’t worry, brother. I’m going to score, for sure’. He looked at me and thought, ‘This guy is crazy’. That became a challenge for me. I told myself, ‘I’ve promised him, so I have to deliver’. And I did.”
His desire to leave Paris had already become clear by January 2026, although Ramos accepted that a mid-season transfer was difficult to arrange.
“I wanted to leave PSG, but in January it is always more complicated to go. It wasn’t the best option, although that was what I wanted. Now I understand it better. I had reached a point where I only wanted one thing: to leave.
“The club immediately refused, because for me to go they needed to find a replacement. But Luís Campos assured me that he would let me leave in the summer. He gave me his word.”
Ramos said contact with his agent, Jorge Mendes, during the World Cup period led to Milan’s interest becoming concrete. Head coach Rúben Amorim also played an important part in persuading him to move.
“One morning, Jorge Mendes called me and said, ‘The deal is done’.”
Although he is now enjoying a regular starting role in Italy, Ramos admitted that leaving his former team-mates was emotionally difficult.
“It hurt me to leave PSG, because the group was very close. There were three of us Portuguese, and I spent all my time with them: travelling, training, playing matches and being with the national team.
“They knew I wanted to leave and joked that I should stay just for the ‘atmosphere’. We experienced some truly exceptional moments together, the kind you rarely find in a career.”
Ramos is now hoping regular football at Milan will allow him to build on the promise he showed in Paris without having to wait for opportunities from the bench.