Paul Scholes has claimed that Erling Haaland has the same aura that Cristiano Ronaldo did during his first spell at Manchester United.
Ronaldo, who initially joined United as a teenager back in 2003, sealed a romantic return to Old Trafford last summer. After topping the club's goalscoring charts last term, the 37-year-old has been a peripheral figure under Erik ten Hag this season after missing a sizeable chunk of pre-season preparations.
But Ronaldo has started to feature slightly more in recent weeks and came off the bench to net the winner against Everton on Sunday - a strike that saw him reach his latest career milestone.
And although Scholes, who played alongside Ronaldo during his first spell at Manchester United, has admitted that he didn't immediately recognise just how far the forward could go, he did immediately recognise that Ronaldo was "different" - just like Haaland, who has had a seismic impact since switching to the Premier League.
Scholes told BT Sport: "The very first game I played against him in pre-season for Sporting you thought this lads different. A bit like Haaland now, he was different, I still couldn’t see at this point he’d go on and do this but what he’s done is sensational. To turn himself into a centre forward is out of this world."
Like Haaland, who has blitzed Premier League records signing joining Manchester City, Ronaldo quickly made an impression in English football.
And after leaving United in 2008 for a then-record £80million fee, Ronaldo went on to solidify his status as one of football's greatest ever players by plundering 450 goals in just 438 games for Real Madrid.
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Ronaldo also clocked up a century of goals for Juventus to put him on the brink of 700 strikes - a tally he finally reached at Goodison Park.
And Scholes - who had urged Ten Hag to give his old teammate a chance in the Premier League after handing him three successive starts in the Europa League - couldn't praise Ronaldo enough ahead of Thursday night's meeting with Nicosia Omonia.
Scholes added: "Absolutely sensational, it’s hard to put into words the career he’s had and still going strong. I knew him when he came over as a youngster from Sporting, he was flash, cocky, had the skills but he soon learned he had to start scoring goals, creating goals.
"I never thought he could go on to score 700 goals. I never saw that as a young player but what he did with Real Madrid in Spain, he is a sensational footballer. He’s still going strong by the looks of Sunday."
