Cristiano Ronaldo Jnr: Another Cristiano Ronaldo In The Making?

By Max Wise

I put on the television and there was this kid, receiving a mid-range pass in the penalty box, and bending his body perfectly to score with an overhead kick.

I was surprised to see a kid score such a goal from an in-swinger, and so dug deep to find out more about him.

My search rather led me to the reality that what I saw was normal and, perhaps, the beginning of a future football legend.

The kid’s name is Cristiano Ronaldo Jnr, 8 years old and first son of Portuguese world football icon, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Six games, eight assists and fourteen goals are statistics that, I thought, are best associated with elite footballers including Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi; the two players who have dominated the football scene over the last decade.

But, that, I found, was the current record of Ronaldo Jnr at the Juventus Under-9 side where he currently plays. 

Ronaldo Jnr started nursing his football career at the Real Madrid juvenile team, and moved to Italy with his father last summer when the latter left Madrid for the Turin club. Ronaldo Jnr joined the Juventus juvenile side as the father went to the first team.

Ronaldo Jnr announced himself with four goals on his debut and has since seized every game opportunity to demonstrate his footballing talent. 

Following in the footsteps of a father with five Ballon d'Or awards is no easy trek, but Ronaldo Jnr would be the only reason he would not grow into his father’s shoes in the future.

Ronaldo strives for perfection, and that showed in the level of hard work he has exhibited since he burst into the limelight in 2003 after his transfer to Manchester United from Lisbon.

Ronaldo was 18 years old then, and he arrived as replacement to club legend, David Beckham, who had left for Real Madrid.

Replacing a fans' favourite who has made his name by scoring from free kicks and assisting goals with eye-catching crosses was a no small deal, but Ronaldo succeeded by investing so much in himself as a complement to what was offered him by the club.

Former Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand, described the Ronaldo Portuguese as the ‘most committed footballer that the world would ever see’ when he spoke in an interview about the Portuguese's rise to greatness.

“At Man United, Ronaldo hired his own doctor, physical trainer, cook, and other professionals, but the club had these professionals and we all relied on them. It came as a shock to me that a footballer then would hire people like that to work on him when he is home."

Ronaldo knew he had the talent, but knew also that talent alone was nothing without hard work, commitment and disciplined.

He wanted to achieve greatness, but knew that he cannot do so by wholly depending on what the club extended him.

He knew the essence of good food to an athlete and so had his own cook, he knew he needed to do more to keep fit and so hired his own physical instructor, he knew he couldn’t do without proper medical attention, and so had his own doctor.

Sir Alex Ferguson and his senior figures in the Man United dressing room helped shaped Ronaldo, but even more was that the latter helped himself the more.

Ronaldo never behaved like he was a finished product; not even after leading Man United to the 2008 Champions League and capping it with his maiden Ballon d’Or award.

Ronaldo left Man United to Real Madrid in 2009 as a club legend and left the Los Blancos this year to Juventus with the same legendary status.

He remained true to his approach at Madrid, where he almost single-handedly led the side to four Champions League titles, three La Liga titles and a lot of team and individual awards including four Ballon d’Or awards.

Ronaldo is now 33 years old, but is still flamboyant, hungry for more successes, adventure, hates to lose, scores at will, has a good body, shoot well, and is very quick.

Ronaldo started out as a mere talented kid, but will end it as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, footballers the world has ever seen.

It would be accurate to presume that he would put Ronaldo Jnr on the same path that made him great.

Ronaldo Snr’s method has been tried and tested and its efficacy is assured.

One would be right to assume, therefore, that that the lad would become the next Cristiano Ronaldo should he remain true to the course as would be channeled to him by the father.