International

Gary Neville claims Cristiano Ronaldo was ‘butchered and battered’ for three years after he arrived at Manchester United.

Ronaldo moved to Old Trafford as an 18-year-old in 2003 and went on to win three Premier League titles and the Champions League during his six seasons at the club.

But Neville admits the Real Madrid star did not join United with the right mentality and says ‘smoothing out’ the forward’s flaws took some time.

‘He didn’t arrive at Manchester United as someone who was setting the tone for everybody else. It wasn’t a case of he came in and all of a sudden everyone else upped their game, that’s not how it was,’ Neville told talkSPORT.