Man Utd boss Ferguson: Ronaldo can handle hype

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is convinced Cristiano Ronaldo can handle the hype swirling around him.
He told the Daily Mail: "It's obvious when a talent like him comes along there will be attention. But this club have been used to that for years now. There was George Best and then Ryan Giggs.
"Every time a fresh, young talent comes along, they get praise heaped on them. This club are great at creating heroes all right. There's no question about that.
Ronaldo's 22. At that age you have to be flexible when it comes to curtailing their youthfulness. I remember Ryan Giggs coming in to training once wearing a new jacket and I said to him, 'Where the hell did you get that?' But he was a young lad.
"Young people do these kinds of things. They like to dress differently and they want a bit of freedom in their choices. They want to be men before they are men and, with Cristiano, a lot has happened to him in his time at Manchester United.
"But he has matured fantastically well. He is an intelligent boy who looks after himself. He has a lot of pluses.
"How players handle that celeb kind of attention, you never know. But with Ronaldo, he seems to do OK with that. He seems to be fine. He doesn't seem to be overwhelmed or overly flattered by it.
"The problem comes when players get flattered by it and start enjoying it. That's when you start worrying."
Ferguson added: "At the moment there's absolutely no sign that the boy will be wasted by it. When people ask to interview him, it doesn't worry me too much. He can cope."
Asked if Ronaldo can be a contender for the World and European Player of the Year awards, Ferguson concluded: "I hope he is. I hope two or three of them could be. Last season there was a fantastic improvement in Cristiano in terms of his goalscoring.
"To get 23 goals as a wide player is incredible. I know there were some penalties in there, maybe four or five, but to get something like 18 goals from open play as a wide player, there's not many players who can do that.
"Who was the last wide player to do that? It must have been Mike Summerbee or someone."
tribalfooball.com - July 26, 2007