As good as Ronaldo was (and he was sublime, god knows how he would've ended up if not for the injuries), his 96/97 and 97/98 seasons in Spain and Italy, while obviously great goalscoring wise, were not something that hasn't happened before. His 25 league goals in Inter were probably slightly above average for Capocannoniere from say 1993-2003, while Romario, Hugo Sanchez, and Vieri have had seasons with either slightly worse or better goalscoring ratios in Spain. If he was that good a scorer himself, you'd have expected him to be a clear cut above everyone else eider side of him, and that's just not the case.
I'd agree he'd have scored a boatload of goals, but that goes for every prime world class striker in the last 20 years or so. Shearer had a run of three 30+ league seasons, and that was done while he was being supplied by Wilcox, Ripley, Sherwood and Batty. Put peak Shearer in today's Real Madrid and make him a focal point as they already do with Ronaldo, let him take PKs and FKs and i have very little doubt he'd consistently hit 55+, maybe even 60. 80 goals is another matter though, there would have to be a perfect storm for that.
