RETURNING TO ENGLAND AS public enemy No 1 after last summer’s World Cup finals, Cristiano Ronaldo was followed at every turn by two security guards, such were the fears for his safety. He had similar attention throughout Manchester United’s preseason tour to Asia, but this time his would-be assailants were awestruck youths, male or female, all desperate to get up close and personal with football’s latest global icon.

Some got a little too close in Guangzhou last Friday, as an open training session was cut short when the Olympic Stadium pitch was invaded by at least 700 fanatical United supporters. The young Chinese fans rushed the barriers in the hope of an autograph from Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs or even Chris Eagles, but the signature they all wanted was that of Ronaldo.

Now it seems that the same applies to leading companies all over the world. The 22-year-old’s management company, Gestifute, has secured lucrative endorsement contracts with Nike, Coca-Cola and Espirito Santo, a Portuguese bank, in recent years and is understood to be weighing up offers from a number of other companies, all desperate for an association with a player who has inherited far more from David Beckham than just the iconic No 7 shirt at Old Trafford.

A surge in his commercial value was already expected after his spectacular performances for United last season, but the impact he made in Asia is likely to have heightened the global appeal of the Ronaldo brand. “Now that he’s approaching a peak in his career, he will probably start to sign some much bigger deals, as Beckham did,” Paul Whitehead, of the Sport+Markt consultancy, said yesterday. “Ronaldinho earns approximately £10 million per annum from commercial deals. Ronaldo isn’t at that stage yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. With his popularity soaring in the Asian market, he is perfectly equipped to take over the mantle of Beckham.”

That statement will not be welcomed by Sir Alex Ferguson, whose relationship with Beckham deteriorated as the player’s celebrity grew. But United’s view is that, in Ronaldo and Rooney, they have two players who will be at the top of the game’s Alist — both as players and as icons — for the next decade.

Ronaldo is squeaky clean. When an Asian newspaper yesterday accused several of his United teammates of rowdiness and high jinks on a night out in Macau last Tuesday, they were eager to claim that Ronaldo, in contrast to some, “only drank water and spent most of the night chatting with friends”.

Ronaldo’s image makes him a perfect role model, according to another sport marketing expert. “When you look at the names who have been at the top of football for the past few years, Beckham and Ronaldo [the Brazilian variety] are moving out of the equation because of their age and Ronaldinho didn’t have a great season last year,” Dr Simon Chadwick, of the Birkbeck Sports Business Centre, said. “Nor is Ronaldinho a particularly handsome or photogenic guy.

“So we’re left with the young guns, people like Rooney, Ronaldo, Franck Ribéry [the Bayern Munich and France forward] and Fernando Torres [Liverpool’s new striker]. Of those players, Ronaldo is the one who you would say ticks all the boxes. As a global sports personality, he’s perfect. He’s a fantastic player, successful and good-looking. He also has a kind of cockiness. One of the problems with some sportsmen as brands is that they don’t have a lively personality. But he has that. He’s got everything.”

It is all a far cry from a year ago, when Ronaldo appeared to be finished in this country, having gained notoriety after his role in Rooney’s red card in England’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal.

Meanwhile, United hope for good news this week in their pursuit of Carlos Tévez, whose owners have given West Ham United two days to agree a settlement or risk the matter going to court. Kia Joorabchian, who fronts the two companies that hold Tévez’s “economic rights”, is expected to serve the particulars of claim documents at the High Court on Wednesday, detailing allegations about the club breaching their contract. West Ham’s proposal is that they are paid £5 million by Joorabchian to release the registration of Tévez, which would allow the forward to move to Manchester United. The contract between the parties said that Joorabchian would pay West Ham £100,000 should Tévez leave this summer. The Premier League will hold a board meeting today and is expected to discuss that idea.