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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Joe Bray

Former Manchester United star voted Premier League's greatest foreign midfielder

Former Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted the best foreign midfielder to play in the Premier League by BBC Sport.

Ronaldo played for United between 2003 and 2009, scoring 188 goals for the club in 292 appearances before moving to Real Madrid for £80m.

He scored 450 goals and assisted 131 in just 438 appearances for Los Blancos before moving to Juventus last summer.

Ronaldo won the Champions League at United in 2008, and has since won four more Champions Leagues with Real and has won five Balon d'Ors.

And in a BBC poll, Ronaldo was ranked as the second best foreign player ever by over 500,000 respondents (behind Thierry Henry) - and the greatest midfielder with 14% of the vote.

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BBC pundit Alan Shearer said: "What an amazing player. He was superb at Manchester United and then went on to achieve more at Real Madrid."

Fellow pundit Rory Smith added: "It is hard not to be seduced by what Ronaldo became. His is the best player the Premier League produced and went on to become one of the two best players of his generation."

Other United players were also chosen in the poll, with Eric Cantona getting 12% of votes.

Ruud Gullit said: "What an unbelievable impact he made in the Premier League for Manchester United. In Europe, and even France, Cantona is not such a big name as it is in England.

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"So I heard about him when I came here and he was an extraordinary player. I played against him and his influence was different from anyone else."

Shearer said: "£1.2m from Leeds? What a signing. When you speak to other Manchester United players about him, there were rules for them and Cantona had his own set of rules.

"Basically, because of his ability and his impact, he could do whatever he wanted to do. Week in, week out, he performed so well for them."

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Christ Sutton explained: "He transformed Manchester United at the start of the Premier League era when the club started to dictate. He gave them the confidence and an edge."

Peter Schmeichel gained 5% of the vote, and was named the greatest foreign Premier League goalkeeper, while Nemanja Vidic was named the second best defender (2%) behind Vincent kompany.

David de Gea (1%) and Jaap Stam (<1%) were also options in the poll.

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