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Published 16:30 19 Jan 2022 GMT
Updated 17:25 19 Jan 2022 GMT
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Keane also said that Ronaldo carried himself well for a young player, that his confidence was evident but that he was also an extremely hard-working player.
"He looked like a player. You have to look the part, and he did. Zidane looked like a player – and Ronaldo looked like a player. The shape, the body language – they were there. A bit of arrogance, too. But he’d a nice way about him; he was very likeable. We forget that he was very heavily criticised when he first came on the scene.
'He was going down too quickly when tackled, his final product wasn’t good enough. But – again – he was only seventeen, a kid. I was playing youth football for Rockmount, in Cork, at that age. He was amazing. He was immediately one of the hardest-working players at United. Most of the players I knew worked hard, but Ronaldo had the talent on top of the work rate."
The former United captain also admitted that Ronaldo was vain from the start, but it wasn't detrimental to his displays on the pitch.
"He was good-looking and he knew it. He was vain in that sense – at the mirror. He was a big lad, a big unit. I’d think, ‘Good on yeh.’ Looking at some of the other lads in front of the mirror, I’d think, ‘Yeh fuckin’ nugget.’ But Ronaldo had an innocence to him, and a niceness. I don’t think he ever slackened off, or that he was ever more worried about the mirror than his game. I always felt that football was his love."
Extremely hard-working and determined, confident and vain but an incredible footballer who had the potential to be the best in the world, Keane's first impressions of Ronaldo proved very accurate.
Although, when speaking to the media, Keane opted to play down expectations about his talented teammate. The way Keane spoke about the future Portugal captain reflects the standards, mentality and approach to the sport that Ronaldo displays to this day.
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