Cristiano Ronaldo backed to 'play deep into his forties' and smash 1,000 goal milestone as Al-Nassr star's former Man Utd team-mate hails 'outstanding' achievement of beating Brazil legend Pele

That is the opinion of Mikael Silvestre, who once worked alongside the Portuguese superstar at Manchester United. A precociously-gifted teenager was taking his first steps towards greatness back then, but is now approaching the end of a quite remarkable playing career.

Ronaldo, with five Ballons d’Or to his name, has spent two decades breaking records and rewriting the history books – with there no sign of him slowing down at 39 years of age. Stunning individual standards are being maintained at Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr, which suggests that he still has plenty of football left in him.

Silvestre expects that to be the case, with the Frenchman telling BoyleSports, who offer the latest Premier League betting, why CR7 can achieve anything that he puts his mind to: “Cristiano Ronaldo will reach 1,000 goals and it will be an incredible achievement. For someone to start their career as a winger and then score more goals than Pele is outstanding, I do believe he will score his 1,000th goal because when he puts his mind to something he achieves it.

“He plays every minute in the Saudi league and scores both from penalties and from open play, he is one of the top performers and I don’t see any downgrade in his performances. He is at a level which I think he can remain at for a long time, I think he will play deep into his 40s and break the 1,000 goal barrier and it will be an amazing achievement.”

Ronaldo has surged beyond the 900-goal mark and is well on his way to reaching four figures. He remains as important for Portugal as he is to the Al-Nassr cause, with a historic haul of 217 international caps being added to as he plays towards the next World Cup finals in 2026.