Time for Liverpool to cash in on Anfield icon Salah

Why Chelsea want Athletic Club's 'incredible' winger Williams

Sorry, Arsenal! Man City are unimpressive but inevitable

bet365 bonus code 365GOAL: Get Free Bet Credits in April 2024

Ballon d'Or Rankings: Salah's slim hopes go up in smoke

Walker's wife sends strong 'stay away' message to mistress

Conte is back! Ex-Chelsea boss set to return to management 

35-goal Kane not giving up on breaking Lewandowski record

Heartbreak for Hayes! Dreadful decisions ruin fairy-tale ending

Salah backed to leave Anfield after touchline spat with Klopp

Ten Hag hits back at Man Utd fans after being booed

Greenwood earns ‘starboy’ billing ahead of future call

Kicked out by Pep & mistakes at Barca - what next for Cancelo?

<p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><script type="application/json" data-placement="better-collective-widget">{"type":"better-collective-widget","data":{}}</script><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><ul><li>Portuguese joined Red Devils in 2003</li><li>Was a tricky winger that didn't track back</li><li>Morphed into a record-setting forward</li></ul><script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script>

Nothing like David Beckham! How ‘scrawny & erratic’ Cristiano Ronaldo frustrated Man Utd before turning into a ‘machine’

King Cup

Al Nassr FC

Al Khaleej

Premier League

Crystal Palace

Manchester United

<p>The Portuguese superstar was acquired by the Red Devils in 2003 and <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/cristiano-ronaldo-david-beckham-own-football-club-wealth-saudi-arabia/blted37b8d4b9b09d7d" target="_blank">charged with the task of filling David Beckham’s boots</a> at Old Trafford – as he inherited the iconic No.7 shirt from an England international that had left for Real Madrid.</p>

WHAT HAPPENED?

<p>Ronaldo would go on to tread that transfer path himself, but only after completing a remarkable <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/ronaldos-rise-circus-jibe-van-nistelrooy-ferdinand-man-utd/1ke6skb8zhhdg1k3w8b9yvel1k" target="_blank">transformation from lightweight tricky winger</a> into a fearsome record-breaking frontman – with the first of his five Champions League and Ballon d’Or honours claimed while on the books in Manchester.</p>

THE BIGGER PICTURE

<p>Gary Neville was initially sceptical, with Ronaldo nothing like Beckham, but has told <em>The Overlap</em> – brought to you by <a href="https://m.skybet.com/football " target="_blank">Sky Bet</a> – of how CR7 <a href="https://www.goal.com/en/news/man-utd-cristiano-ronaldo-team-player-phelan/yv690iranbgx1mth9caklg7s8" target="_blank">transitioned from show pony to all-time great</a>: “When Ronaldo came, he was quite scrawny and had not developed his body. His decision making was erratic, if he should have crossed it, he dribbled, if he should’ve dribbled, he crossed it. He always frustrated the players in the middle, because he’d go to cross it and they’d make the run and then he would turn back. He was all over the place and I actually lost faith with him because he wasn’t delivering in an attacking sense, but he also didn’t run back that much - he wasn’t really helping. Whereas Becks, he was always running back and we were always doubling up - I always had help. It was quite frustrating. In 2006, he scored (against England) and that’s when he knocked us out of the World Cup in Germany. He came back and all of a sudden his physique and his body had changed and that season, in 2006, when we first won the league again, he had a transformation into this machine, and I think he scored 35-40 goals.”</p>

WHAT NEVILLE SAID ABOUT RONALDO

<p>Neville added on how <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/everyone-afraid-cristiano-ronaldo-nobody-scared-man-utd-anderson-questions-decision-superstar-leave-54-goals/blt078645509a73f714" target="_blank">Ronaldo has achieved his remarkable longevity</a>, with the <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/love-letter-to-world-cristiano-ronaldo-gift-keeps-giving-al-nassr-remarkable-goal-record-2024/blt220ea9a1bd59c2bc" target="_blank">evergreen forward still going strong at 39</a> while younger former team-mates are already retired: “Their body shapes were different [Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney], I say that respectfully in terms of Wazza had more of a square, strong shape. Whilst Cristiano had this physique like a super middleweight boxer, he was in the gym everyday doing pre activation. He would stay afterwards [training] and do all sorts, the ice bath, he had all of the stuff in his house. To be fair, Wazza, if you ask him, liked to drink and go out a little bit, and his body shape was different, but they were both unbelievable players. Cristiano just went on and he is still going on now, you’ve seen what he has got, I mean it's unbelievable.”</p>

DID YOU KNOW?

<p>Ronaldo is showing no sign of slowing down, with the <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/cristiano-ronaldo-goal-message-rivals-portugal-al-nassr-superstar-1000/bltf77588a501ef4789" target="_blank">target found on 42 occasions this season for Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Nassr</a>. He is up to <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/very-lucky-cristiano-ronaldo-joao-felix-example-football-life-barcelona-harry-kane-players-admirers-most/blt126e5c9b4eb9c1c9" target="_blank">206 caps and 128 goals for Portugal</a>, and may yet have one more European Championship and World Cup left in him at international level.</p>

WHAT NEXT FOR RONALDO?

Nothing like David Beckham! How ‘scrawny & erratic’ Cristiano Ronaldo frustrated Man Utd before turning into a ‘machine’ | Goal.com UK

Gary Neville has explained how “scrawny and erratic” Cristiano Ronaldo frustrated Manchester United before turning into a “machine”.

Editors' Picks