According to Paul Scholes, Haaland has a similar aura that Ronaldo had during his first spell at Man United.
Ronaldo joined United as a teenager in 2003and sealed a return to Old Trafford last summer. After topping the club’s goalscoring charts last term, the 37-year-old has been a peripheral figure under Ten Hag this season.
However, Ronaldo has started to feature slightly more in recent weeks. He came off the bench to net the winner against Everton on Sunday- a strike that sealed his 700th career goal.
Although Paul Scholes-who played along with Ronaldo during his first spell at Manchester has admitted he didn’t recognize how fat the forward could go, he immediatly recognizes that Ronaldo was ‘different”.
He said, “the very first game I played against him in pre-season for Sporting you thought this lad’s different. A bit like Haaland now, he was different, I still couldn’t see at this point he’d go on and do this but what he’s done is sensational. To turn himself into a centre-forward is out of this world.”
Like Haaland, who has blitzed Premier League records signing joining Manchester City, Ronaldo quickly made an impression in English football.
And after leaving United in 2008 for a then-record £80million fee, Ronaldo went on to solidify his status as one of football’s greatest-ever players. He plundered in 450 goals in just 438 games for Madrid.
Ronaldo also clocked up a century of goals for Juventus to put him on the brink of 700 strikes – a tally he finally reached at Goodison Park.
And Scholes – who had urged Ten Hag to give his old teammate a chance in the Premier League after handing him three successive starts in the Europa League – couldn’t praise Ronaldo enough ahead of Thursday night’s meeting with Nicosia Omonia.
Scholes added: “Absolutely sensational, it’s hard to put into words the career he’s had and still going strong. I knew him when he came over as a youngster from Sporting, he was flashy, cocky,and had the skills but he soon learned he had to start scoring goals, creating goals.