ITV are airing a new documentary about Cristiano Ronaldo tonight and in it Phil Neville reveals that some former teammates of his at Man Utd would repeatedly kicked the Portuguese player in an attempt to curb his tendency to dive.
From ITV.com
"He dived a lot," Neville told ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke. "He tried to buy fouls and he came in for a lot of criticism. The boys [at Man Utd] were hard on him for his diving and it was putting us under pressure.
"I'd say the first 12 months there was a massive toughening up process. In training at the time you had Keane, Butt, Scholes, and every time he got the ball they kicked him and they kicked him – not just once, they kicked him every day, every week, all season."
Whether or not this actually worked is debatable. Maybe they should have kicked harder.
Also, maybe Ashley Young's current Man Utd teammates should consider implementing a similar system.
