Ronaldo came out on top in a countdown that the Transfer Show panel chose on a special Christmas Day programme.
The Portugal captain was one of four Manchester United players in the top 10 along with Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Wayne Rooney.
United signed Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon for £12m in August 2003. During six seasons at Old Trafford, he won eight major trophies including three Premier League titles and the Champions League.
During a stellar career, he has scored more than 750 goals, won 30 major trophies, five Ballon d’Ors and two Best FIFA men’s player of the year awards.
Thierry Henry came second. Arsenal signed him in the summer of 1999 for £11m from Juventus. During eight seasons at Highbury, he became an Invincible, won two titles and broke the club’s goalscoring record.
Some star names were controversially left out of the list including Manchester United defenders Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.
Top 20:
Cristiano Ronaldo
Thierry Henry
Eric Cantona
Frank Lampard
Roy Keane
Didier Drogba
Sol Campbell
Wayne Rooney
Vincent Company
Alan Shearer
Mohamed Salah
N’Golo Kante
Dennis Bergkamp
Virgil van Dijk
Gianfranco Zola
David Silva
Patrick Vieira
Eden Hazard
Sergio Aguero
Petr Cech
