Rio Ferdinand Makes Bold Claim About Cristiano Ronaldo And PL Return

Rio Ferdinand has made a bold claim about his former Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo potentially returning to the Premier League.

Ronaldo left United for a second time by mutual consent in November 2022 after publicly criticising the club's owners and manager Erik ten Hag in an interview with Piers Morgan.

He signed for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr as a free agent in January 2023, becoming the first top European star to join the league before the influx of talent that arrived in the following summer.

Ronaldo was crowned as the world's top goalscorer across selected top flight leagues in 2023.

Now 40, he signed a new contract with Al Nassr in the summer which will keep him at the Saudi Arabian side until 2027.

THIS ANGLE OF CRISTIANO RONALDO GOLAZO 🥶pic.twitter.com/bTAczjOwBc

— fan (@NoodleHairCR7) October 18, 2025

He is likely to feature at his sixth World Cup in 2026 with Portugal, and is the top goalscorer in international history with 143 goals, 35 ahead of Iran's Ali Daei.

While Ronaldo looks set to play out the remainder of his career in Saudi Arabia, Ferdinand - who recently visited Riyadh to watch his ex-team-mate in action - still believes that he could thrive in the Premier League should he return to England.

In a video posted to his 'Rio Ferdinand Presents' YouTube channel, the former United centre-back said: "That consistency of putting yourself through it, day in day out, to maintain a certain level of excellence, is not an easy thing to do. And Cristiano's done it better than anyone I've ever seen, in my lifetime.

"People say, 'Oh, it's great that he's in Portugal and scoring, because he wouldn't be able to do it anywhere else'. He's doing it for Portugal, in the national team, against some of the best defenders in the world. So don't tell me he can't still do it in the Premier League.

"He was top goalscorer for Manchester United when he was there. He'd be doing this anywhere, still.

"I watched his goal against Al Ittihad when I was there, in Jeddah. His movement to get across the defender... there's 25-year-olds still working out how to do that, who are still in the peak times of their career, who don't do it, who don't smell it, who don't see it.

"This guy's just got it, man. I sent a clip to someone I know at United to say, 'Listen, we need to get [Benjamin] Sesko doing this'. Because Sesko, if he starts moving like that... he's so big, he's so mobile."