StoryTHE NEW RONALDO

The Southampton defender Jose Fonte has said that he feels that the record signing for the club – Gaston Ramirez – is someone who is extremely similar to Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Southampton defender has been able to compare the South American with the Portuguese international due to the fact that he played with the 27-year-old Portuguese when he was at the Sporting Lisbon academy. Jose Fonte and Cristiano Ronaldo both graduated from the Sporting Lisbon academy, and he feels that the midfielder Gaston Ramirez is demonstrating the same talent and potential he saw within Ronaldo.

Ramirez cost Southampton around £ 15 million, which has raised a lot of eyebrows due to the fact that they were only promoted to the Premier league in the summer. Fonte has praised various aspects of Ramirez like technique, control, and quality on the ball. He has also said that his understanding of the game is much better than anyone he has seen. Due to the fact that he is only 21 years of age, he has the ability to improve even more as the years go by. Fonte has also praised the effort put in by Cristiano Ronaldo in trying to become the best player in the world. He has said Ronaldo used to do a lot of press-ups in the hope of improving his strength.

“Cristiano was 16 and I was 17. He was already a special talent - I used to kick him in training. He is an unbelievable player and when you play against players like him you can only improve. In terms of quality, Gaston is right up there with the best. His technique, his control, his use of the ball and his understanding of the game is different to anyone else in the team. He gives us something else," said Fonte.