Ronaldo shirts fly off she

The 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year has proven to be an even bigger hit in his first season than David Beckham was upon his arrival seven years ago.

Spanish giants Real claim that they have already sold more than 1.2m shirts bearing the Portugal forward's name and number in Madrid alone, compared to the estimated 1m with Beckham's name during the former England captain's first year in the Spanish capital in the 2003-04 season.

Ronaldo was greeted by a full Santiago Bernabeu stadium when he was unveiled following his move from Manchester United, and the club shops at the ground sold 2,000 shirts - at a rate of 15 per minute - in the two hours following his presentation, although a further 300 were reportedly stolen in that time.

The sale of shirts and other Ronaldo branded merchandise has already pulled in around £100m, although some of that cash goes to manufacturers adidas, Ronaldo himself and to cover production and marketing costs.

However, with Ronaldo just coming to the end of the first year of contract that runs until 2015, he is set to recoup his outlandish transfer fee many times over during the course of his Real career.

As well as Ronaldo, club president Florentino Perez marked his second spell in charge of Los Merengues by bringing in Brazil star Kaka for £56m and France striker Karim Benzema for £30m.

According to an annual ranking compiled by business advisory firm Deloitte, Real are the world's largest revenue-generating club in the world, ahead of United and Spanish title rivals Barcelona.