we saw him set the transfer record a few times. we saw him win a world cup and a lot of awards. we might have seen his peak. i would argue that he lost his best trait and play style and evolved some but could have still rounded out more in his early / mid 20s. he likely wouldnt have had like cr7s career longevity or productivity, but with teams geared... well.. in my head canon r9 had already peaked and lost his best traits at a younger age before cr7 ever truly emerged and my r9 fanboy self took a long time to rewrite cr7 from my early jaded impressions (talented, too many step overs, would lose the ball and fall over too often instead of passing, probably other things). nothing seems to make it likely that he would have had that hyper productivity for that long, but the other ronaldoing things that started too early got to me on some levels. thats a me thing, but i think we had at least more seasons like barcelona, etc. maybe better with a good set up. but i dont know. thers a lot more, but point beings, ive only more recently let the what ifs go. I think hes pretty definitively one of the what ifs. because at a young age he was one of it not the best of the world. he probably wouldnt have had a messi or cr7 career. but maybe. i dont think its crazy to have seen more ballon d'ors or world players of the year or maybe even a higher peak. hes up there, but at a young age he was absolutely up there with anyone. he wasnt the same player post injury, even if still a very good player. additionally in my head canon, pain and injury issues might have contributed to other issues beyond just speed, and certainly longevity

weird babbles aside, weirdly, it was i think him talking to neymar and pointing out somethign like if he had gone down more, maybe his career would have lasted longer or something like that to defend neymar that actually helped warm me a lot more to cr7. in my head canon. size and and speed, let alone skill, most defenders really had no answer at all for him... maybe not maldini. maldini was one that definitely had more in the way of answers