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 43 - 62 of 82

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  1. Another over-rated, over-paid and over-the-hill import, looking to take money from our game for the minimum of effort. Some foreigners have been brilliant, ( Berkamp, Henry and Brad Friedel),to name a few. However most come with dubious qualifications, leaving after having milked the system, which has become corrupted by so-called experts, who will not give an English player a chance.Thankfully none of my money will contribute to making an ordinary person a millionaire.

    From mike t, on Tue 15 Jul 12:39AM

  2. do i detect jealousy from united fans??? yep,i think so...lol

    From tom, on Tue 15 Jul 12:19AM

  3. I Think he should go to Chelsea

    From cleon, on Mon 14 Jul 11:53PM

  4. ac milan act as if they dont want ronaldhinho.the weekly wage they want to offer him is so low compared to other top star players. big clubs will regret after his 1st season wherever he goes

    From Nkwa, on Mon 14 Jul 10:49PM

  5. Please Ronnie! Millions of Barca fans are imploring you to stay. Please hear us all...

    From Horatiu, on Mon 14 Jul 10:39PM

  6. In case u hadnt noticed buddy... money runs the epl..

    thats why nowadays promoted teams usually get relagted straight back down... and the rich clubs will always be in the top 5

    From Keitho, on Mon 14 Jul 10:11PM

  7. as a Barca Fan I'm just praying he will stay and shine again

    From Rouzbeh HoseinAbadi, on Mon 14 Jul 10:10PM

  8. Money is the only reason Man City are still in the discussion, and that's why Barca kept saying that they wanted the best for Barca and Ronaldinho. It's just another way of telling Ronaldinho to choose Man City because they're offering more money to both Barca and Ronaldinho.

    But seriously, why would a former World Player of the Year want to join Man City, a mid-table team? With or without Ronaldinho, Man City is at best a top 7 or 8 teams, fighting to get in the top 6 with Spurs, Everton and Portsmouth. He'll have absolutely ZERO chance in lifting the EPL trophy, and he'll probably never get to play in the Champions League again!

    Oh and don't forget, Eto'o rejected the Spurs by referring them as a mid-table team. If Ronaldinho can swallow this and join a team of even lower caliber, that's only because of money.

    Honestly, if Thaksin wants to repeat what Roman did with Chelsea, he would have to spend like he did in the beginning: overpaid overrated 2nd tier stars (Duff, Parker, Mutu etc.), build a team that was at least good enough to get into the Champions League regularly, hijack your rivals' signings (Duff, Robben, Mikel and to some extent Anelka etc.) and then try his luck in luring true superstars and top-notch managers.

    This is not a CM game and success won't be built in one year. He was actually lucky enough to have hired Eriksson, but by firing him , I doubt if there'll be any top managers willing to come to Man City in the next few years. By the way, Mark Hughes is no where near world-class. He's only a manager who's more likely to listen to Thaksin's bull@#!*.

    From Rexy, on Mon 14 Jul 9:59PM

  9. He is definitely NOT going to AC Milan..

    From Half A Brain, on Mon 14 Jul 9:46PM

  10. man city are in the uefa cup this season, just like ac milan. elano (at man city) is a regular brazil international. jo (at man city) is also a brazil international in the making, 1 cap so far and will it get more at the olympics. jo and ronnie were on holiday together just a few weeks ago. it might be more appealing there than some of you think.

    From b'ob, on Mon 14 Jul 9:44PM

  11. he's definitely going to Ac milan

    From ...., on Mon 14 Jul 9:32PM

  12. I have to say that as a Chelsea fan, and a football fan in general, no other player has given me pure excitement from watching him play like Ronaldinho. The man is a genius and Cristiano Ronaldo is still way behind in my opinion. I wish he'd play in London but better Milan than Man City( he'd never play for such rubbish). I just wish him all the best, hope he becomes the same player again. All haters can go F*%$ themsleves. BTW, Barca hav treated him like @#$% after all he did for them.

    From Sebastian, on Mon 14 Jul 9:15PM

  13. he should choose Manchester City

    From kapermasiak, on Mon 14 Jul 9:14PM

  14. MAN UNITED ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!
    If ronaldinho had brains he'd go 2 United

    From mr.cool_himself, on Mon 14 Jul 8:53PM

  15. GO GO GO GO

    From www.premiership.altervista.org, on Mon 14 Jul 8:53PM

  16. This Ronaldinho case sounds like deja vu to me. Remember Maradona in 1985? When he left Barcelona, he had been injured after being kicked black and blue by Goicochea et al. Barca just dumped him! When he returned from home to Europe, was it to Milan,Inter or Juve? NO!!!! He went to poor and hapless Napoli, a team with absolutely not pedigree and desperately starless and trophy-less. Yet see what happened? A became a god!!! Ronaldinho, go to Man City so the world will know that new "god" of English Football is at the Stadium of Light and the old 'god' lives at the OLD TRAFFORD!

    From mike onyibe, on Mon 14 Jul 8:41PM

  17. ithink he should just trust his HEART and go where his heart go too

    From sergeato, on Mon 14 Jul 8:27PM

  18. GO TO URL OF NICK

    From www.premiership.altervista.org, on Mon 14 Jul 8:17PM

  19. serie A is an even bigger step down these days

    From Angelo, on Mon 14 Jul 7:53PM

  20. I don't think Ronny would be able to discover his form in the EPL. City are also a club on the up so ALOT of pressure would be put on his shoulders and that's not what he needs right now.
    He'd be better off going to Milan. To start with the Italian league is much slower pace meaning he won't tire as quickly due to his lack of fitness. The defenders also stand off alot meaning more room for him to strut his stuff. Milan are also a club in decline due to an aging squad so if he did do anything decent, he would be idolised again, which is most likley what he's after.
    I think the main problem is that Milan can't afford him. Barca also need some sort of cash injection after spending so much money in the transfer market so the City offer will obviously tempt them more.

    From vulcanraven01@..., on Mon 14 Jul 7:52PM
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