Roy Keane once made an amazing call about Cristiano Ronaldo.
Back in 2009, the former Manchester United captain suggested that Ronaldo's then world record-breaking move to Real Madrid was 'cheap'.
Keane, who was managing Ipswich Town at the time, told the The Telegraph.
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"It's just the way it is. People talk about Ronaldo going for £80 million - I look at other players and think Ronaldo's cheap for £80 million.
"He's the best player in the world. Footballers are classed as entertainers and if you look at any industry the top people get the top money."
Fair play to Keane. The money Real paid for Ronaldo raised a few eyebrows back in the day. It was a time where big transfers for top class players were kept around £50 million mark - not what it's like today, where footballers can easily move to another club for up to £120 million. Talk about inflation.
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His view point might've been criticised at the time, but Keane nailed it here, to be fair. What a call.
Ronaldo made an immediate impact at Los Blancos. He scored 33 goals in his first year there and now is considered one of their greatest ever players, not to mention being their all-time leading goal-scorer. 450 goals in 438 appearances sounds like your younger brother on FIFA Be Pro after a few seasons when he's put the difficulty down to amateur, but it's actually Ronaldo's record with Madrid.
As you can see, some didn't agree at the time.
It' s an amount of goals across nine years that could be worth up to £250 million in today's climate.
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As for Man United, they got a very decent return of their investment. Ronaldo was just a plucky teenager with quick feet when he made the move to Old Trafford from Sporting Lisbon for £12.24 million in 2003. He honed his craft under Sir Alex Ferguson and became a real powerhouse; and he club got about a £68 million return, not to mention a fair few goals and trophies to boot.
Hats off to you, Roy, you got this one spot on.
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