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Man United star Cristiano Ronaldo - Source: Reuters -
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In 2003 a relatively unknown Cristiano Ronaldo was brought to United as a fresh-faced teenager from Sporting Lisbon for a sum of 12.24-million-pounds ($31.5m) - a bargain considering all he has achieved at Old Trafford, and for Manchester United since then.
Coming from a working class family and a club where he was paid just a few hundred pounds a month, Cristiano Ronaldo has risen to become one of the world's biggest and most revered football stars.
When he first joined United - brought in to replace the ousted David Beckham, who also ironically left Manchester for Madrid - Ronaldo was understandably in awe of the situation he now found himself in, telling reporters in an October 2003 edition of football magazine Shoot:
"I've joined Manchester United to play football, to help the team and win myself a place. I'm not looking for personal glory; It's not my style.....I'm living a dream I never want to wake up from."
How things change
One of the problems for Ronaldo in the Premier League was that he was always looking for 'personal glory', and as fantastic as the 2008 42-goal scorer was, it was ultimately the lack of being a team player, and a notion that, in his mind at least he was "bigger than the club" that led to the sale of a player whom Alex Ferguson last year stated was unsaleable.
After being linked with a record transfer to the Spanish giants last year - where only an ankle injury and the wrath of Sir Alex Ferguson scuppered the move - it seemed that Ferguson finally made the tough choice to the let the 2008 Ballon d'Or winner leave the club for his 'dream' move to Real Madrid, rather than go through another summer of the will he, won't he saga.
The signs, of course, were there
During the 08/09 season, Ronaldo's theatrics, arrogance and pure sense of self-importance - seen to full effect when the 24-year-old threw a child-like tantrum after Alex Ferguson substituted the winger during United's 2-0 derby win over local rivals Manchester City - was increasingly threatening to overshadow the pure brilliance of his on-field antics and the 40-metre free kicks that always seemed far too easy.
Real's astounding 80-million-pound ($206m) offer will of course soften the blow for Alex Ferguson - and with club's in the Premier League amassing millions of pounds worth of debt - now, more than ever before, it is the right time to sell the Portuguese star.
And if there was ever one player who was sure to smash all record-transfer fees that have gone before, it was sure to be him, because only a handful of players, including Real's newly recruited Brazilian star Kaka , would fit the mould for what is being called Real's Galactico era II.
There is no question that Ronaldo has made the Premier League exciting.
His tantrums and diving, unpredictability and dazzling
football, not to mention his 118 goals in 291 appearances have made
him an international star and love him or loath him - English
football is sure to be a poorer, not richer, place without
Cristiano Ronaldo.
Will you miss Ronaldo? Have your say
below.....
Add a Comment:
Post new commentcazba said on 2009-06-14 @ 13:07 NZDT: Report abusive post
Nooooo way. I'm an Arsenal supporter and obviously I'm glad Ron is going. I am starting to wonder if Manchester United can get the Premier League title once more...