Louis Saha arrived at Manchester United just six months after Cristiano Ronaldo, and it didn’t take him long to realise he was going right to the very top.
Saha, who scored 42 goals in 124 games for the Red Devils, played with some true greats of the game during his four-year stint at Old Trafford from 2004-2008.
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From Roy Keane and Paul Scholes to Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney, the Frenchman can lay claim to playing with some of the very best the Premier League has seen.
Make no mistake, though, Ronaldo was the very best of the lot and it didn’t take long for Saha to look at how he could emulate his supremely talented teammate.
“I remember in a session we were working really hard and because I was quite a competitive guy when I was training or playing, I just wanted to follow his routine but I couldn’t keep up,” Saha told talkSPORT.com.
“He went to do all his dribbling and people thought he didn’t really know what he’s doing.
“It was when he was 19 or 20 and I could see the more he was doing it the better he was becoming.
“When you have that much talent and skills you tend to think you’re the best and that is what really impressed me a lot.”
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Ronaldo’s hard-working nature has been well documented by many he has played with, but it was one moment of genius in 2008 when Saha realised that the Portuguese superstar-in-the-making was built different to other footballers.
“The moment when I thought he was extraterrestrial was the goal against Roma away from home in the Champions League,” he said.
“The ball went wide and he bombarded forward and the strength that he actually generated into that action, because he came maybe 20 metres late into the box and he jumped way higher than anybody, and now he’s doing this every week.
“I didn’t know the guy had that in him. I knew he had skills and talent but I had no idea he could score those kind of goals.
“It was powerful, courageous and he didn’t care about getting hurt. That was when I thought: ‘Hang on a minute, this guy is an animal’.”
Saha also spent a year alongside legendary midfield hardman Roy Keane during his days at Old Trafford.
Keane, who captained United to a sustained period of success during his 12 years at the club, now hits the headlines for his straight-talking and no nonsense punditry.
But Saha revealed the Irishman had a softer side to him and was instrumental in giving the younger players, like himself, a ‘winning mentality’ during his final years at the club.
“The guy wanted to change and become a manager and he had a softness about him,” Saha said of Keane.
“He was making jokes even though his face was dead serious, a bit like he does on Sky.
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“When you have a leader like this you just want to copy the guy. He’s so intense and Gary Neville was in his own way.
“You can’t just relax and be okay with two goals when you can get six, he wouldn’t have it.
“All of it was very good for the young guys in giving them a winning mentality.”
Louis Saha was speaking to talkSPORT on behalf of William Hill. Check out the latest football odds at William Hill
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