The discoverer of Ronaldo: “I doubted his age immediately”

25 years ago, Ronaldo became the top scorer in the Dutch league. He was the assistant coach, Ernie Brandts, the discoverer of the Brazilian star in 1993, and he has told how his signing for PSV was forged in Voetball: “I discovered Ronaldo for PSV. Piet de Visser always credits him, but why didn't he offer him to any club? In 1993 I was in Brazil for a month and saw Ronaldo train and play a lot.”

Nobody was yet aware of the crack that the striker was going to become. In fact, Brandts confesses that when he saw him on the grass, the first thing he did was doubt how old he was, since it was not normal for a boy his age to have such soccer skills: “I was allowed to be everywhere and I didn't believe what I was seeing. Ronaldo was physically strong, aggressive, with incredible acceleration, a strong shot and great scoring ability. He was from another planet. I immediately doubted his age. It was impossible for him to be so good at sixteen. “

On the other hand, he thinks that the club waited too long and ended up paying too much money for not going after him when he recommended him, since PSV waited to see him summoned for the United States World Cup: “PSV waited too long. Ten months after seeing Ronaldo, Kees Ploegsma junior told his father, who had been president for a long time, 'Dad, that Ronaldo Ernie is talking about is on the Brazil team at the World Cup. It was then that PSV took action and paid 14 million guilders for it, and ten million was already too much. “