Tommie van der Leegte has recalled the early days of Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima at PSV, admitting that the Brazilian’s first few weeks in Eindhoven did not immediately convince his teammates of the extraordinary career that lay ahead.

Ronaldo arrived at PSV as a 17-year-old in the summer of 1994 and quickly established himself as one of the most exciting young forwards in world football. Across two seasons in Eindhoven, the Brazilian scored 54 goals in 57 official appearances before leaving for Barcelona in 1996.

Van der Leegte, who had two spells with PSV between 1994 and 1997 and again from 2007 to 2008, was part of the squad when Ronaldo first arrived. Yet even he admits that the striker's enormous potential was not immediately obvious.

Speaking on De Rood Wit Podcast, Van der Leegte explained that Ronaldo initially appeared to lack the motivation his teammates expected from a young player arriving at a new club.

“At first, no. In the first few weeks he was there... It looked as if he didn’t have the motivation,” Van der Leegte said.

“You know how Brazilian players are, but you still want to show what you can do when you’ve just joined a squad. Ronaldo actually didn’t have that at all, so we quickly said: That’s not much.”

The verdict did not last long.

“But a week later we said something different, haha,” Van der Leegte added.

Ronaldo would go on to prove that the initial impression had little bearing on what was to come. His two seasons at PSV produced an extraordinary scoring record and ultimately earned him a move to Barcelona.

Luc Nilis, who also joined PSV in 1994, formed a formidable attacking partnership with Ronaldo during the Brazilian's time in Eindhoven.

The Belgian remembers qualities that made the teenager particularly difficult to defend against, including his movement and extraordinary speed of execution.

“His movements, his speed of execution. He was faster with the ball than without it. That is very unique,” Nilis said.

Their partnership developed largely through instinct rather than lengthy communication.

“Our connection on the pitch? That’s instinctive, without hesitation,” Nilis explained.

The language barrier could have made the partnership more difficult, but another PSV teammate played an important role.

Nilis quickly learnt how Ronaldo wanted the ball and where he preferred his passes. Stan Valckx, who spoke Portuguese, helped establish the communication between the Belgian and Brazilian.

“I quickly sensed how I should pass to him and what he preferred. How I had to run to serve him,” Nilis said, as quoted by PSV Inside.

“And Stan Valckx was important in that, because the communication went through him. He spoke Portuguese, so that was quite handy.”

Ronaldo, however, did not remain completely reliant on others to communicate.

“Although I do have to say that Ronaldo started learning a bit of Dutch fairly quickly,” Nilis concluded.

Within months, the teenager had gone from leaving teammates underwhelmed to becoming the focal point of PSV’s attack. His subsequent goalscoring record ensured that the doubts of those opening weeks quickly became a distant memory.