Anyone who becomes the world's most expensive player has a lot to live up to, but there is little doubt that Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is worth the £80 million it cost Real Madrid to sign him from Manchester United.
The winger's fantastic natural talents developed and matured over the five seasons at United and the player is now undoubtedly one of the most exciting and potent attacking threats in world football.
The legend goes that Sir Alex Ferguson was persuaded to sign the Portuguese protégé by his own players after United had faced Sporting Lisbon in a pre-season friendly in 2003. Whatever the truth in that story it wasn't long before the largely unknown 18-year-old arrived in Manchester with £12.24 million going the other way.
He took little time to make an impact, scoring eight times in 39 games, including the opener in the FA Cup final win over Millwall. Since then Ronaldo's route to the summit of world football has seemed practically a foregone conclusion.
He enjoyed an incredible spell at United, winning the Premiership and Champions League, becoming the first United player since George Best in 1968 to win the coveted Ballon d'Or and being voted the FIFA World Player Of The Year ahead of Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres. To cap it all he won the Club World Cup with Man United, being presented with the silver boot as top scorer in the competition.
After achieving so much at Old Trafford, he decided he needed a new challenge. accepting the offer of the number nine shirt at the Santiago Bernabeu. As he joined forces with Kaka and Xabi Alonso, ushering in a new era of Galacticos at Real Madrid, the fans expected big things. But whilst the trophies haven't flown through the door as they may have liked, Ronaldo has been anything but a disappointment.
To the horror of defences around the world, he only gets better. His first season at the Bernebeu was interrupted by injury, but he still managed a stunning return of 33 goals in 35 games. In his second season, Ronaldo surpassed all expectations, breaking a host of records on his way to securing the Pichichi award for La Liga's top goalscorer. He surpassed Real legend Hugo Sanchez and Telmo Zarra's longstanding record of 38 goals in a league season as he became the first player in history notch 40. His combination of precision shooting, devastating free-kicks and an extensive box of tricks are rivalled only by Leo Messi. Whilst Messi and Barcelona scooped almost every trophy in the game, Ronaldo has had to make do with a solitary Copa Del Rey in his time in Spain. Under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho, though, it's surely only a matter of time before he adds to the haul.