On August 12 2003, an 18 year-old Cristiano Ronaldo arrived in Manchester to join the Red Devils.
He expected to wear number 28 as he had with his previous club Sporting Lisbon, but his new manager had other ideas.
“Alex Ferguson said to me: ‘Listen, I want you to take number seven,’” recalls Ronaldo. “I was surprised because I knew the guys who had worn that shirt.”
Ronaldo quickly proved himself worthy of the seven shirt and forged his game and physique during his years at Old Trafford, before moving to the Santiago Bernabeu in 2009.
“It was the beginning of my success in football,” the Real Madrid legend told Nike ahead of the release of his new boots.
“I improved not just my skills but my body too. In the five years that I was there, I learned the art of football.”
Ronaldo contributed to Manchester United’s three consecutive league titles and was awarded the world’s best player award in 2008. “In the five years that I was there, I learned the art of football. We won many things together. It was a dream for me,” revealed the 32-year-old.
ABOUT CR’S NEW BOOTS
These transformative years provided the inspiration for Ronaldo’s Chapter 4: Forged for Greatness boots. The design is a nod to hot iron being forged into shape. Molten-esque orange and red gradients on the plate transition into metallic tones of the color-shifting upper.
The CR7 logo on the medial side features a prominent 7 against tonal “CR” lettering to highlight his shift to the number seven shirt during these years. The heel counter features the Roman numerals for 28, Ronaldo’s previous number, with the VII of the XVIII highlighted to reference the emergence of 7 from 28.
CR7 Chapter 4: Forged for Greatness boots will be available on Nike.com and in Nike stores across the GCC as of Apr 13th at AED 1,149 for the Superfly version and AED 1,399 for the Vapor version.
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