Premier League - Ronaldinho to decide in 72 hours

Eurosport - Mon, 14 Jul 21:50:00 2008

Barcelona and Ronaldinho have given themselves "two or three days" to decide on the player's future after a meeting at the Camp Nou.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Ronaldinho - 0

Milan and Manchester City the two clubs competing for the Brazil forward's services, with the English club reported to have submitted a City club-record £25.5 million bid for the former PSG and Gremio man.

"The two parties have agreed to give themselves two or three days to close the transfer of the player to one of the clubs interested in landing the Brazilian," Barca said on their website, referring to themselves and Ronaldinho.

"If no agreement is reached over this period, the player will join up with the rest of the squad for training."

The player was accompanied by his brother and agent Roberto de Assis as they returned from Porto Alegre in Brazil for the meeting with Barcelona officials, which Italian sports paper Gazzetta had earlier claimed was to allow them to finalise a deal with Milan.

Barcelona, meanwhile, confirmed they received the bid from City and said that the Blues are leading the race to capture the twice World Player of the Year.

The Spanish club's president Joan Laporta told Catalunya Radio: "[Ronaldinho and his agent] have had two interesting proposals and they are leaning more towards the one from Manchester City.

"We hope to be able to resolve the situation this week."

Laporta added that the club had taken into account "the interests of the player as well as those of Barcelona" when deciding on whether he should go or not.

The bid was a last-ditch attempt by City to lure the playmaker to the Premier League and hijack Milan's plan to take him to Serie A.

City owner Thaksin Shinawatra is determined to land his top summer target at any cost and is reportedly willing to offer a weekly wage of £150,000 to meet that ends - three times what the Rossoneri are reported to have tabled.

The Italian heavyweights were thought to be favourites to capture him after De Assis said a switch to the San Siro was "90 per cent likely", a claim that was backed up by Milan officials.

But following reports of a dispute over personal terms with the Italian side, City have moved quickly to propose a concrete and lucrative offer.

Ronaldinho himself was preparing for the Beijing Olympics with the Brazil national team - he qualifies as one of the their over-age players - although Barca wanted him back at pre-season training at the Camp Nou, having refused him permission to travel to China.

Should a deal be completed with City, it would smash the club record £18 million spent on fellow Brazil international Jo earlier in the close season.

Ronaldinho has scored 70 goals in 145 appearances for Barca.

Eurosport / Reuters

Comment 63 - 82 of 82

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  1. oh common guys i think manu should go for him instead of city, at least he could replace the "SLAVE"

    From dpud2612, on Tue 15 Jul 10:38AM

  2. i want him go to chelsea becouse his tallent is too good for chelsea and he will show his technique and a help for lampard and drogba

    From Faisal, on Tue 15 Jul 10:12AM

  3. Let him go to Afghanistan if that is his desire. The only thing that is certain is that d Ronaldinho that is on the table now is not d same as d one we used to know!

    From Julius U, on Tue 15 Jul 10:01AM

  4. Neither Milan nor Manchester City will play next year's Champions League. Poor Ronaldinho, what a downfall! But he is still one of the most valuable players in the world, if a trainer finds the right motivation for him. At least Milan is a winning club, with 5 CL in 20 years. Manchester City has "just" a lot of money: how much did they spend last campaign? What did they achieve with that?

    From Giovanni T, on Tue 15 Jul 9:45AM

  5. I hear he's going to Newcastle Utd

    From Laura, on Tue 15 Jul 9:42AM

  6. I'm a Luton Town fan and a good friend of our manager Micky Harford, in fact I have just come off the phone to him. Mick recognizes it's a tough call for Ronnie whether he should choose Milan or City, so has authorised me on his behalf to say that Luton are prepared to have Ronnie on loan for 6 month, and if he pulls his finger out, avoid's frequenting Luton's delightful bars and nightlife and performs well in Div 2, then Mick might be willing to extend this to whole year. I hope Ronnie recognizes this is a truly generous offer and will be in touch before Mick changes his mind.

    From alex, on Tue 15 Jul 9:35AM

  7. ronnie should go to mcity so that he gain more fans because that is where the real football is being play all over the world.

    From ADEYEMI, on Tue 15 Jul 9:31AM

  8. Let him go to chelsea as he will replace Lamps who if not relpaced will maek Manu the champs aain

    From clarity, on Tue 15 Jul 9:23AM

  9. I hope Ronaldinho goes to Manchester city even though i am a Liverpool fan he is a class player and it would be good for the Priemership and fans to watch him play every.

    Scouse

    From scouse_147, on Tue 15 Jul 9:06AM

  10. ronnie needs to decide now or never

    From grey, on Tue 15 Jul 9:01AM

  11. I hope Ronaldinho goes to Man City so the Premier League will become more popular and famous. I live in Japan but Premier League is less popular than La Liga and Serie A. People still wears Juventus, AC Milan, Barcelona and Real more than Man U or Chelsea.

    From ultrakoichi, on Tue 15 Jul 8:41AM

  12. Milan have old players Kevin

    From fenech.izaak, on Tue 15 Jul 8:14AM

  13. Please fans, don't discredit talented futballers, don't use "over-rated" arbitrarily. Get the difference now. Ronaldihno has proved his worth by receiving WPY award. Players on that level are not over-rated, but rather are seen to possess the necessary skills to guide a team to victory anyday, even though sometinmes they are not in form, because of egoism. The over-rated ones, on the other hand, are those who have not been tested, but still want to move to Arsenal or Baca. An example is Arshavin. Yes.

    From unzwa, on Tue 15 Jul 8:07AM

  14. Chelsea finished 2 points behind Man U in the premier league, and met them in the Champions League final. I don't see the joke.

    From jrhodes9, on Tue 15 Jul 7:34AM

  15. Let him go to AC Milan ...im not an Acmilan fan..but he really needs to go there cause there is Kaka whitch is in hi s national team so they can play gd together ! ok there is maybe jo in Man city but clearly MAN CITY have lowrated player...acmilan have top ones...Seedorf....Kaka....Gilardino....Inzaghi....etc... think about it ...

    From kevi005, on Tue 15 Jul 7:18AM

  16. he should go to man city.
    man city and chelsea both have owners who know nothing about football but think they know everything.
    they simply gather every declining superstar, sack their good coaches and hope they win everything.
    so man city is the ideal new team for ronaldinho.
    man city and chelsea.. the two jokes of premier league..

    From , on Tue 15 Jul 6:38AM

  17. If Ronaldinho is overrated what exactly is Rooney, Lampard, Cole, and the whole sorry lot they call the English national team. Is this sour grapes for the way Brazil humiliated England with just 10 men? England is a light weight football nation wholly reliant upon foreign players to make a club run in europe. Cristiano Ronaldo, Drogba, Torres, Van Persie, Elano, Giggs, Keane, Gallas, the entire bloody Arsenal Squad. Ronaldinho doesn't need me to come to his defense, they are all well paid multi-millionaires. They deserve to be paid and they also must endure all the ups and downs of their fame. That's why they make the big bucks and that's why the sorry fans who toil in one job or the other reserve the weekend to cheer on athletes they prize as heroes. Everything in it's right place.

    From kevincarson81, on Tue 15 Jul 3:14AM

  18. i think he will go to one of the big four epl clubs n ext year as usually happens with any import. but £150000 a week for the next year wont hurt his pocket.

    From , on Tue 15 Jul 1:37AM

  19. Go To Chelsea !!! Go To Chelsea !!! Go To Chelsea !!!

    From chelsea.team, on Tue 15 Jul 1:27AM

  20. i think he shd go to chelsea...........epl will definately boost his career and become fameous again

    From john smith, on Tue 15 Jul 1:13AM
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