PREMIER LEAGUE
Ferdinand: "One time in Ronaldo's house, there were 10 of his people in the same room"
"That's my chef, that’s my physio, that’s the doctor and that’s my personal trainer," said Ronaldo who invested in his career by hiring a team around him.
Rio Ferdinand was one of Cristiano Ronaldo's teammates at Manchester United. That allowed the former United defender to spend plenty of time with the current Juventus striker and come out of that time with plenty of anecdotes.
In an interview with Goal, Ferdinand told a story that gives us an insight into how Ronaldo became a superstar and maintained his place among the very best in the world for so long.
"With the amount of money in the game, these guys need to take a page out of either LeBron James or Cristiano Ronaldo’s book," Ferdinand said. "17 seasons in the NBA at the top, that’s absolutely ridiculous.
"For Ronaldo, [he is] 34 now and he is still at the top and he has been in the top two players in the world for more than a decade. He was the first person I saw invest in a team. I went around his house and I saw about 10 people in his front room. I said, who are these people? What’s going on?
"He said, that’s my chef, that’s my physio, that’s the doctor and that’s my personal trainer. He left Man United as the best player in the world. He was on the right track. They have both invested huge money in having the right team around them for their body and mind to perform at the highest level consistently.
This tallies with Carlos Tevez' story about how dedicated Ronaldo was during his time at United. The Argentine tried to show up before Ronaldo for training and would always find him there waiting. He might be half asleep but he was always there first and ready to train.