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Gary Neville admits he groaned about Cristiano Ronaldo in his early days at Old Trafford because he was too “erratic”
The Portuguese star moved to Manchester United in the summer of 2003 for just over £ 12m from Sporting Lisbon.
But Neville remembers venting from club strength and conditioning coach Mike Clegg because he struggled to deal with Ronaldo’s unpredictability.
He accused the now 35-year-old of fighting to fit into a defensive structure and failing to comply when he should have.
Ronaldo became a world star at United after the 2006 World Cup with Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz earning praise for persevering with him.
(Image: Daily Record)
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And Neville admits it was an incredible transformation to watch.
He told Sky Sports: “Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz, I think it is important to put Carlos Queiroz in the category with Sir Alex, both were his champions, both believed in him.”
“I think he came back from the World Cup that summer, it was as if everything had changed. His maturity and his decision making, which was a great thing, his experience, his physical attributes had completely changed overnight.”
“It happened from someone who, if you look at his first photos at Manchester United, was skinny, really thin, nervous, he didn’t look very strong.”
(Image: Getty Images)
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“Suddenly, I think it was after that 2006 World Cup, he came back as a super middleweight boxer. His body had completely transformed, it was absolutely incredible.”
“From a point of view of strength and a plyometric point of view, the ability to jump, the ability to score with the head, the ability to change direction, everything seems to fit. It was just a physical, mental maturity, Everything it happened to him.
“It was brilliant to watch, there was a time when I remember going to the gym after a training session and talking to Mike Clegg [United’s strength and conditioning coach] who worked very hard with Cristiano physically in the gym and said: “I don’t know what to do next.”
“You didn’t know where he was going to be on the defensive, you didn’t know when he was going to throw the ball, the players in the middle of the box didn’t know when he was going to cross it. It was just erratic.
“But they had great faith in him, Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz, and they believed in him, they put him in front of the players who had a higher reputation at the time and he became something brilliant.”
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