After landing the PFA, FWA and Premiership player of the year awards, this week the 22-year-old added the United fans and players' player gongs to his bulging collection of individual awards.

Although a couple of mesmeric displays from Kaka in Milan's Champions League semi-final win over United raised doubt over the claim Ronaldo is the best player on the planet at present, there is little doubt he is up there with the game's elite and certainly on top of the entertainers' chart.

And he gets one last chance to impress a domestic audience this season as he looks to help United seal an unprecedented fourth Double by beating Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley.

"You run out of things to say about Cristiano," admitted Ferdinand.

"He has won every award there is to win as an individual this season and it is easy to see why.

"His performances have been fantastic. He did very well last season but he stepped up his game even more this year and you are seeing a lot of end product."

As one of the England players he helped knock out of the World Cup last summer, Ferdinand might have been expected to give Ronaldo a frosty reception when the pair were reunited after their post-tournament break.

After all, plenty of Ferdinand's international team-mates were happy to go into print to condemn Ronaldo for the part he played in Wayne Rooney's dismissal during that quarter-final defeat in Gelsenkirchen.

However, once Rooney had offered the hand of friendship, Ferdinand was happy to follow suit, realising instantly how much of a positive impact Ronaldo could have on United's chances of landing something big this season.

"I think the manager, (assistant) Carlos Queiroz and (chief executive) David Gill have to take massive credit for going out to Portugal to speak to Cristiano," said Ferdinand.

"They made him feel he was really wanted here and told him to forget about what happened in the summer.

"The fans would always love him and he realised he had a good bond with the lads inside the changing room as well."

While Ronaldo already boasts one FA Cup winners' medal, Ferdinand has known only disappointment in the tournament.

The England star was a frustrated spectator when Ronaldo was inexplicably overlooked for a man-of-the-match award by Sven-Goran Eriksson as United beat Millwall 3-0 in 2004, a legacy of his eight-month ban for a missed drugs test.

Twelve months later, Ferdinand was left in tears as United dominated against Arsenal, yet failed to find a goal and eventually lost in a penalty shoot-out.

So, while the common consensus seems to be Saturday's tussle matters more to Chelsea because they are the deposed champions, Ferdinand has an alternative view.

"We will see whether Chelsea are more hungry on Saturday," he said.

"You can't say someone has more incentive than someone else to win a trophy like this.

"When you look back on your career you want to count medals. This is a great opportunity for us to get one and we won't be slacking on any front.

"I have had disappointments in the FA Cup before so I would like to taste a bit of victory this time.

"I don't want to be travelling home with a load of ifs and buts in my mind. I have some bad memories to erase and I want to do that on Saturday."