London, Dec. 4 (ANI): Coach Alex Ferguson has hailed Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo as the most important signing of the decade for Manchester United.

The Old Trafford boss made the choice in a review of his last 10 years at the club, the Sun reports.

Fergie said: “Ronaldo was fantastic. Just a marvellous player. All good players are hard to replace.”

Endorsing this view recently was Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, who is still not happy that Ronaldo left Old Trafford last summer, and claimed the Portuguese winger is irreplaceable.

“I don’t consider I was ever in Ronaldo’s shadow but, no, I’m not happy he left the club and I don’t think any of us are. I’d prefer him to still be in the team if I’m being honest. He’s a brilliant player, irreplaceable, the best player in the world - so no one’s happy he left,” Rooney said.

A couple of days ago, Ferguson gave his young team a huge confidence boost by comparing them to the famous class of the mid-90s.

Despite a disappointing show by Man U teenagers Danny Welbeck, Federico Macheda and Rafael Da Silva against Besiktas last Wednesday, Ferguson vowed to keep faith with them.

And he hopes, given time, these young hopefuls could develop like the famous ‘Fergie Fledglings’, which included David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and the Neville brothers.

“I played six players - two 18-year-olds, a 19-year-old, a 20-year-old, a 21-year-old and a 22-year-old - in a European game and you say there’s no future for them,” he said.

“When Beckham, Butt, Scholes and all those lads made their debuts as a group in Europe, they were mostly in their early 20s.”

Macheda and Welbeck were 18 when they faced Besiktas last week, though Welbeck was 19 the next day.

Back in the 90s, Giggs was 22 before Fergie first opted to risk plunging him into a Euro date.

Becks was 21, Scholes 21, Butt 20, Gary Neville 20 and Phil Neville 19. (ANI)