I’m Cristiano Ronaldo’s former Manchester United teammate

Former Manchester United hopeful Danny Drinkwater has admitted he was inspired to hit the gym by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Drinkwater, 33, began his career at Old Trafford before moving to Leicester City in 2011.

The three-time England midfielder won the title in 2016 before enduring a poor spell at Chelsea.

Drinkwater announced his retirement from football this week after spending last year without a contract.

The £35million man revealed on the High Performance podcast how a night of heavy drinking ruined his Stamford Bridge career.

But Drinkwater also opened up about his time at Manchester United, laughing as he recalled Sir Alex Ferguson putting a clamp on his head while waiting for lunch.

The ace has now revealed how legendary footballer Ronaldo inspired him to improve his fitness on and off the pitch.

Drinkwater explains how Ronaldo spent his first season at Manchester United as a “scrawny teenager” trying to cope with the power and brutality of the Premier League.

But after returning the following summer, Ronaldo apparently gained weight “crazy”.

The rest is history as Ronnie went on to lift numerous club and individual trophies at Old Trafford.

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Drinkwater, who failed to break into the first team at Old Trafford, admitted that was the moment he decided to hit the gym to be in the best shape possible.

He explained: “One summer Ronaldo was there and the next summer he was gone.

“He’s not a big machine, he’s just a skinny teenager.

“But he came back after that summer and he went crazy.

“Just seeing you thinking ‘that’s where I need to be’.

“I destroyed the gym all summer because of him.”

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