He has learned to drop deeper, draw the defence and thread passes through for his team-mates.
The icing on the cake came with the two late goals against Brescia and all the frustration and hard work now seem worthwhile.
At international level his new skills were on show against Yugoslavia and against Portugal we can expect him to be the fulcrum of Brazil's attack.
Whether he has the stamina to take part in the run-in to the hard-fought Italian title, which Inter have not claimed since 1989, remains to be seen.
And at the World Cup the odds would seem stacked against Ronaldo being able to get through seven high-pressure games in 28 days.
But the world will be watching and, if he manages to do it, nobody will be able to deny that he is a phenomenon indeed.