12 Jan 2014 00:29:08
Going to make a bold statement here and say Adnan Januzaj will come very close to the ability levels of Ronaldo! Now I remember Ronaldo at 18, his decision making was terrible most of the time, his delivery was dodgy, he wouldn't work back and he was extremely inconsistent. Now over time he developed these skills as we all know, and became of the best players to ever play for the club.
Now at 18 adnan looks like he's been in the side for years now, his decision making is very good, he doesn't try to do to much. His delivery was excellent today and he has a decent work rate too, as shown in the second goal.
What they have in common is when Ronaldo was 18 much like adnan he played with no fear, he wanted the ball and looked to beat his man. Adnan is very similar like that, he's not got the fast feet of Ronaldo but he has incredible balance messi esque imo.
I'm not saying Adnan will score the goals that Ronaldo gets a season, but I truly believe adnan could be considered up there with Ronaldo and I believe he will win the Ballon D'or. For me he is the outstanding talent in the premier league if not the world. Today when he went to the left he was magnificent, that left foot is like a wand. I was at the stadium of light when he scored those goals and I knew we had something special on our hands but I did not believe he would have done this well. I think bar Rooney he has been our beat player this year!
When people talk about this 200 million or whatever DM will have to spend to rebuild the squad all I can say is, it has to be built around adnan.
Finally it's scary to think he's only 1 year older than me.

1.) 12 Jan 2014
Let's never forget that Ronaldo is possibly the most dedicated and hardworking player off the pitch ever. There have been many many more with the same/better skills than Ronaldo at 18. But none of them really come through good, because the amount of work and effort Ronnie put in consistently over the years is nearly impossible to match. Rooney, Kaka, or even Neymar were better than him at 18. They're not even his shadow now.
Granted Adnan will be a top top player, might even be top 3 in the world, but it would take insane hardwork to come to the level Ronaldo is in.

{Ed039's Note - Rooney has never been as good as Ronaldo at any stage in his career, never mind at 18. Ronaldo is just a different kind of animal to any pro I remember in the last 20-25 years)

2.) 12 Jan 2014
Rooney was a much better player than Ronaldo at 18 infact he was the best young player in the world .

3.) 12 Jan 2014
Rooney has built like a man from the age of 16, which is why he was a more complete player than Ronaldo at 18 but in my opinion (at the time) Ronaldo was still more technically gifted and had more potential. As soon as Ronaldo beefed up and realised being faster and stronger than opponents was more effective than the tricks and flicks, the rest is history and Rooney hasn't been anyway near his level since.

For me, Adnan is just as exciting a prospect as Ronaldo was and that is saying a lot. I hope he applies himself the same.

4.) 12 Jan 2014
Jred

He was not a better player than Ronaldo, He had more hype around him being english mate.

5.) 12 Jan 2014
Rooney was better at 18. Not because he's English. i'm Irish so you can't use the English thing with me. IMHO he was better he was a beast at 18.

6.) 12 Jan 2014
I preferred Rooney at 18/19, but at 20/21 onward Ronaldo was/is a much better player.

7.) 12 Jan 2014
Gcu
Very poor post pal thought you knew more than that. An 18 Rooney had just wrecked the euros