No one could have seen just how good Cristiano Ronaldo would become when he left Sporting CP in 2003.

Not even Ronaldo himself did - he believed teammate Fabio Paim was the one destined for greatness.

Manchester United certainly saw a lot in him, mind, given that they broke the record transfer fee for a teenager to sign the 18-year-old.

Three years later, Ronaldo exploded as he scored 23 goals in a season and a massive 42 the year after that won him the Ballon d'Or for the first time.

A move to Real Madrid followed in 2009 - he left nine years later as their record goalscorer, having won four more Ballons d'Or.

On top of that, he became the first Portuguese captain to lift an international trophy when his country won EURO 2016 - a feat he repeated with the Nations League in 2019.

Simply put, Ronaldo has proven himself to be one of the absolute greatest of all time since leaving Sporting.

And now his first club are considering honouring the legendary figure by renaming their stadium after Ronaldo.

"It's an idea that we're not ruling out, and one we'd be very proud of," Sporting president Federico Varandas told Tuttosport, via AS. "Cristiano is, and always will be, one of the major symbols of the history of our club.

"We're proud to be associated with Cristiano Ronaldo and that the name of the best player in the world goes hand in hand with Sporting."

Sporting's ground - Estádio José Alvalade - is currently named after the club's founder and has stayed that way since it opened in 1956.

Thus the name change would be significant, a sign of how much Ronaldo has done to promote the name of Sporting and Portuguese football as a whole.