Cristiano Ronaldo - is he better a player at Real Madrid or when he was with us

[Super G Ted'inho]

Scoring goals is also largely a team effort. If anything, goals are more subjective - Kevin Phillips scored more PL goals than Zola and almost as many as Cantona playing in a worse team over fewer seasons.

I agree it is all down to opinions, but my opinion is that there is no objective basis for claiming he is better or worse now than he was in 2008. More mature and more prolific, but that doesn't necessarily mean better.

Of course, had you quoted my full comment you would have seen I'd said as much myself

I think Chief's approach is pretty good tbh. He's not stagnated or got worse at real Madrid so its only fair to assume he's got better. Naturally most players do, especially since the peak years are widely seen as 26-30. Obviously not always the case though, Michael Owen for example.

 

[Super G Ted'inho]

SAF may well have told him that. But if that's true then it just proves Real wouldn't have paid £150m, as they didn't pay £150m.

They'd just paid about £30m for Abdiol and then £65m for Kaka too. They also bought Alonso from us for £35m after signing C.Ronaldo too. No way they would have bought those and spent £150m on marmite boy.

 

[Matth_2014]

They'd just paid about £30m for Abdiol and then £65m for Kaka too. They also bought Alonso from us for £35m after signing C.Ronaldo too. No way they would have bought those and spent £150m on marmite boy.

Jesus christ, i thought it was 15 million.

 

[Super G Ted'inho]

Jesus christ, i thought it was 15 million.

It could of been, my memory of that deal is blurry to say the least.

Edit: Just checked and you;re right...

Kaka (€68m, AC Milan)
Raul Albiol (€15m, Valencia)
Cristiano Ronaldo (€94m, Manchester United)
Karim Benzema (€35m, Lyon)
Esteban Granero (€4m, Getafe)
Alvaro Arbeloa (€4m, Liverpool)
Xabi Alonso (€32m, Liverpool)

I missed Benzema though

 

[BBFs Unpopular View]

That's the joy of hindsight matth. If Real knew he was going to become as good as he is now then of course they'd have paid £150m. But for all they knew back then he would burn out at the age of 26, or break his leg, or be the next Anelka. Just look at Kaka - one knee injury and surgery and he ended up being close to a £56m flop for them.

It's like buying a lottery ticket. If you knew it was the winning ticket you'd pay hundreds of thousands for it, but until you know that it's not worth the same.

True that.