Ruud van Nistelrooy has named former Real Madrid teammate Ronaldo as the player with “the best ability” he has seen in his life.
Van Nistelrooy had spells early in his career with Den Bosch and Heerenveen. He then moved on to sign for PSV in 1998.
In just over two years, he scored 62 times from 67 appearances in the Dutch Eredivisie. This extraordinary goalscoring form led to his £19m move to Manchester United in 2001.
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The Dutchman had a superb five-year spell at Old Trafford. He totted up 150 Premier League appearances in that time and he scored 95 times. He shone for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side as they won the league title, FA Cup and League Cup while he was there.
His form for United tempted Real Madrid to sign him in the summer of 2006. It was there where he linked up with Brazillian great Ronaldo.
The striker joined Madrid in 2002 from Inter Milan after previously playing for Barcelona and PSV. He scored 104 times from 177 outings for Madrid and he was renowned as one of the world’s best players.
van Nistelrooy told Rio Ferdinand’s FIVE podcast that Ronaldo would have won the Ballon d’or “seven or eight times” if it was not for his injuries:
“I signed there and of course, Ronaldo Fenomeno was there.
“The thing is he already had so many injuries on his knee, his weight, people know all about it. But then we do four v four in training… oh my god Rio.
“I’ve been applauding, I’ve been screaming, I’ve been bowing. I was like, “okay you’re pulling this off now, you at your best? Oh my, that is impossible”. This is the best ability I have seen in my life.
“Antonio Cassano, he was at Madrid at the time, an Italian striker, he would tell Ronaldo “if you didn’t have any injuries or lived in a more professional way you would have won the Ballon d’Or seven times, eight times.
“I agreed with that. Of course we are all champions, Champions League winners, won everything in the game, but if he had been able – injury, lifestyle whatever you call it – oh my god, you cannot imagine.”
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