“For me, he’s a cyborg!” Louis Saha has said he believes his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo is not human.

Speaking to Get French Football News, Saha was asked to define the ideal footballer.

“After maybe Pelé for those of another generation, the most complete, the most perfect player, if you had to build the perfect footballer, it’s Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Saha played 95 matches alongside Ronaldo at Manchester United between 2004 and 2008, winning back-to-back Premier League titles and the 2008 Champions League.

He argues that his former teammate’s profile, standing 1.88m with elite speed and endurance, functions as a nearly optimised sporting machine.

“With the physique, the guy who is 1m88 tall, who goes at 3,000 kilometres an hour, who has endurance, technique, strength, who has a high footballing IQ – maybe not as high as Paul Scholes or even Messi but still very high – who is strong mentally, who is a leader but who also continues to challenge himself, who will give you confidence because he always has so much self-confidence. Well, I can’t think of any other player like that. It’s impressive. For me, he’s a cyborg!”

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrating a goal with teammates in a football match at a stadium.

The Taxonomy of a Biological Outlier

The “cyborg” label aligns with a long-standing pattern of teammates and managers using non-human descriptors to explain Ronaldo’s output.

During their tenure together at Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane famously labelled him an “alien,” suggesting his ability to produce decisive moments in high-stakes matches was “from a different planet.”

This sentiment has been echoed by various former colleagues who frequently refer to the forward as a “machine,” citing a rigid, almost mechanical commitment to recovery and professional discipline that allows him to defy typical biological decline.

Statistical Defiance After 30

The data support the idea of a player operating outside standard athletic ageing curves. Saha, while only six years older than Ronaldo, retired over 13 years ago at the age of 35. His last few seasons were in semi-retirement, playing only a handful of games for Sunderland, Everton, and Lazio.

Louis Saha scoring a goal against Benfica in a UEFA Champions League match.

Ronaldo, however, recently reached the milestone of 500 official goals scored after the age of 30, a figure that surpasses the total career tallies of most world-class forwards.

His current form remains consistent with this trajectory:

  • Career Milestone: Following his 970th official goal in late April 2026, Ronaldo is currently 30 goals away from the 1,000-goal mark.

  • League Impact: In the 2025-26 season, he has continued his prolific output for Al Nassr, recently recording a brace against Al-Najma and a goal against Al-Ahli to maintain a high scoring average.

  • Historical Range: He remains the only player to have scored 100 or more goals for four different professional clubs.

The Path to 2026

The final phase of this career is now focused on two unprecedented thresholds. With 970 goals confirmed as of May 2026, the pursuit of 1,000 has become the central narrative for his remaining club seasons and his tenure with the Portuguese national team.

This pursuit leads directly to the 2026 World Cup in North America. If he features in the tournament, Ronaldo will become the first player in history to participate in six World Cups.

For a player whose career is increasingly viewed through the lens of longevity and physical optimisation, the tournament represents the ultimate test of the “cyborg” framework—an attempt to maintain elite international standards at the age of 41.

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