How Ronaldo stunned Ferdinand with his battery of professionals
Nothing good comes easy and like the say good meal can only be the product of enough ingredient which equates to enough money to purchase them. Manchester United returnee talisman may be winning every award and still counting but has not come cheap, it is the product of huge investment in professionals. That was the finding that hit former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand when he visited while they were teammates at the Old Trafford.
Ferdinand revealed that he was left jaw-dropped by what Cristiano Ronaldo ensures he has available to him at his house in his strive for greatness.
Ronaldo returned to United after 12 seasons away this summer, signing from Juventus on a two-year deal with the option of a one-year extension.
The Portugal captain initially joined the Red Devils in 2003 from Sporting in a £12.2m transfer.
Then, under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson, the forward grew into one of the best players in the world, winning the Premier League three times, the Champions League once and the FA Cup once.
Ronaldo then joined Real Madrid for £80million, where he became one of the greatest of all time.
Former teammate Ferdinand has spoken about how the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has always been determined to be the best, going as far as having different members of staff available to him at his home.
Speaking to Anthony Joshua on William Hill’s YouTube channel, Ferdinand said: “People never talk about Cristiano’s bravery.
“He was brave to take risks, he came over to another country. He was brave to remain the person that he was and didn’t change really. He became obsessed with the sport that he chose and then drilled down into details which was building a team around himself.
“I went round his house one time and I walked in and he had about six/seven people sitting in his front room. I said to him, ‘Cris, who are all these people, man?’
“He was like, ‘That’s my personal masseur, my nutritionist, my doctor, my physio, my chef.’
“He had all these people and back then no one was doing that. He was a visionary in that sense.”
Since returning to the Premier League, Ronaldo has scored three goals in two appearances and is already proving that even at 36, he is still more than capable of dominating the most competitive league in the world.
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Ferdinand continued: “He’s just looking for every little detail that’s going to enable him to improve. He’ll send me a picture and he’s doing deep water recovery sessions in the sea. He’s driven two hours to get there when he was in Turin with Juventus.
“Other people are at home or out at dinner. He’s just looking for that extra edge.”
With 678 goals to his name in 900 career appearances, undoubtedly, Ronaldo will go down as one of the greatest ever and if he can deliver silverware at Old Trafford over the next few seasons there is a case to be made that he is the best we have ever seen.