Observer, here is a better article on the subject. That one you posted was written by some Liverpool hayter.
Ronaldo - Simply the best?[/b] Dominic Raynor
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Galactico-chasing Real Madrid were willing to part with a world record transfer fee of £54million for his services and Manchester United countered the interest to agree a massive £140,000 per week deal and secure the player's remarkable talent for the next five years.
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Ronaldo: Man of the moment
His Manchester United team-mates unanimously hail him as the best player in the world and his two goals in the 7-1 thrashing of AS Roma in the quarter-finals of the Champions League helped send shockwaves around Europe and draw comparisons with the legendary George Best. He is, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro.
His more enamoured admirers have gone as far as to compare the 22-year-old with Maradona and Pele, whilst his detractors have dismissed the pacy winger as nothing more than an overrated, diving show-pony. What is certain is that his most important assessor, Sir Alex Ferguson, has done all in his power to keep the the player he dubbed a 'phenomenon' at Old Trafford since he beat the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus to the Portugal international's signature in the summer of 2003.
United's scouts had been tracking the Sporting Lisbon youngster a year prior to the transfer but a bamboozling performance against his future team-mates in pre-season left them drooling and persuaded Ferguson to shell out £12.24million for the 18-year-old, then a British record for a teenager, using the cash from the sale of David Beckham to Real Madrid.
Ferguson put so much stock in Ronaldo's ability that he also handed him Beckham's No.7 shirt, a number steeped in history at Old Trafford, and effectively announced Ronaldo as the England captain's successor.
Since then Ferguson has shown absolute faith in Ronaldo's ability and ensured nothing, inculding other players, have unsettled the former Marítimo and CD Nacional starlet. Following star striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy's alleged training ground bust up with Ronaldo it was United's record-breaking top-scorer that was shipped out to Real Madrid for £19m, not the young pretender.
The United manager was also at hand following the 2006 'World Cup winker' incident which made Ronaldo public enemy number one in England. The media storm following Wayne Rooney's sending off in the quarter-final resulted in the winger publicly stating he wanted to quit the Premiership and move to Spain.
Ferguson again smoothed the way, persuading Ronaldo to stay and the winger has responded this season by realising the undoubted potential his manager had always placed his faith in.
Previously criticised as a skillful individual rather than a team player Ronaldo has developed into the latter and has provided his colleagues with 20 assists this term. This new appreciation of his team-mates was highlighted most recently by the pass that allowed Michael Carrick to open the scoring against Roma. In previous years Ronaldo would have gone for goal himself.
Allied to this advancement in mindfulness is a huge improvement in decision making. Whilst last term his flicks and tricks would often lead to the loss of possession, or leave the winger isolated down a blind alley, Ronaldo has now added an end product to his game and thereby eradicated another of his perceived weaknesses.
The Madeira-born player's pace and trickery have always been his most obvious mode of attack but he has added an even more decisive weapon to his armoury; goals. At the beginning of the season Ferguson proposed a wager with Ronaldo that he couldn't score 15 goals during the 2006/07 campaign. With over a month of the season remaining the winger has scored 20 times and lies second in the Premiership goalscorer charts, with 16 strikes.
His ability to use either foot makes him equally effective on both flanks and with all these advancements in his game Ronaldo has rightly received lavish plaudits. But is he the best player in the world as an increasing amount of suitors claim?
Well, looking around the big leagues of Europe, who have provided every winner of the official FIFA World Player of the Year Award since 1990, there are not too many realistic challengers.
• The Dutch Eriedivisie has only provided one winner in the award's short history and that was Brazilian striker Ronaldo who spent time at PSV Eindhoven during his 1996 triumph. This season PSV again provide the Dutch league's most highly-rated player in defender Alex but he is unlikely to get many votes, despite his obvious worth to PSV. Since early March, when the Brazilian was sidelined with a hamstring injury, his club have capitulated in the quarter-final of the Champions League and have frittered away a 12-point lead in the league.
• Ligue 1 has never supplied a winner and looks unlikely to do so this season with no French club advancing past the last 16 of the Champions League - a factor that seems to be hugely influential in determining the destination of FIFA's gong. Although newly-promoted Valenciennes' journeyman striker Steve Savidan is the leading scorer and winning rave reviews from French journalists Marseille's 24-year-old winger Frank Ribery continues to be Ligue 1's prize asset, at least until the France international joins Arsenal.
Lyon's Juninho remains the form player in France and the Brazilian's ability to score vital free-kicks remains an integral part of the league leader's push for a consecutive sixth title. However, he's known in France as 'Monsieur 50-50' because he misses as many as he scores and this dents his credentials.
• In Spain, the Primera Division has been denied the talents of African striker Samuel Eto'o for the majority of the season and with two-time world Player of the Year Ronaldinho off colour and current holder Fabio Cannavaro suffering something of an annus horribilis at Real Madrid the spotlight falls on title challengers Sevilla.
Former Tottenham striker Freddie Kanoute is leading the scoring charts but it is his versatile team-mate Daniel Alves da Silva that is winning all the plaudits. In 2006 the Brazilian full-back/winger was voted the most valuable player as Sevilla triumphed in both the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup finals. Spanish powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid, who between them have provided or snapped-up 10 of the 16 previous winners, have been battling for the £40m-rated player's signature.
• In Germany opinion is split over who reigns supreme in the Bundesliga. During the winter break, the players themselves voted Werder Bremen's playmaker Diego, yet another Brazilian, the best player in the league. However, since scooping that award the former Santos star, who played alongside Alex, Robinho and Renato in the 2002 Campeonato Brasileiro winning side, has dipped in form, as have his team Werder Bremen.
According to the grades handed out by Kicker magazine after each game, the best player is Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and the best outfield player is not Diego but Werder team-mate Torsten Frings. Despite the German international's penchant for eye-catching long-range strikes he is not the type of player who gets fans off their seat and so Diego probably edges it as Bundesliga's big cheese.
• In the Premiership a fully fit Thierry Henry, FIFA's runner-up in 2003 and 2004, would no doubt have given Ronaldo a good run for his money, but in his absence newly crowned African Player of the Year Didier Drogba has thrown down the guantlet. The Chelsea striker has improved beyond all recognition from last term and almost single-handedly dragged Chelsea through injury troubles and Andrei Shevchenko's barren spell. He is top goalscorer in the Premiership but is likely to take top honours if Ronaldo's Manchester United win the league title as expected.
• Serie A's outstanding player has been Internazionale striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has truly elevated his game this year and eliminated some of the inconsistency that has blighted his career. Sweden legend Henrik Larsson insists his compatriot has all the attributes needed to become the best player in the world but often lacks the application and he has been found wanting at international level - an accusation that cannot be levelled at Ronaldo, who has scored 12 goals in his 36 caps.
Francesco Totti has also impressed this season, although this has usually been against the likes of Ascoli, Parma and Torino and AC Milan forward Kaka is never far from the reckoning despite the Rossoneri having an inauspicious league campaign. But the Brazilian international is inevitably at the centre of everything positive that Milan produce, including the recent 2-0 Champions League victory against Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena. He is probably the most consistent Brazilian in the game and, without being 'samba-fantic', that alone must rank him among the world's best.
So after a whistlestop tour of Europe the challengers to Ronaldo's claim to be the best player in the world appear to number two - Kaka and Drogba. And in the final reckoning the deciding factor will probably come down to whose team wins the Champions League. All three - Manchester United, Milan and Chelsea - are in the semi-finals and until the trophy is lifted on May 23rd the discussion will rumble on.
Ronaldo is certainly amongst the top players in the world and if the 22-year-old progresses as much in the next twelve months as he has in the previous year then there will be no need for debate come 2008.
