Ronaldinho snubs Man City as he names favourite Premier League side
English Premiership side Manchester City have refused to give up on buying two-time world Player of the Year Ronaldinho and e-mailed Barcelona a £22mil offer on Sunday night according to yesterday’s Daily Mail.
City – who are bankrolled by former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – are also prepared to pay the 28-year-old £100,000 more a week than Italian giants AC Milan have offered.
The club also believe the fact they have two other Brazilians at the club in his close friend Jo – who they broke their transfer record for earlier in the close season laying out £18mil for him – and Elano could prove persuasive.
“They are refusing to be bullied out of it by Milan,” a source told the Mail, who also claimed that sports kit manufacturer Nike would finance part of the deal.
“You have to admire their daring and their audacity. They still have hope that this could be possible.”
However, La Gazzetta dello Sport also reported in their edition that Barcelona, AC Milan and Ronaldinho – who scored 70 goals in 145 appearances for Barca – were expected to meet in Barcelona yesterday to finalise his 15mil euros move to Italy.
The paper reported that after a day of a series of telephone calls the Brazilian was set to return to Spain from Porto Alegre yesterday with his agent and brother Roberto de Assis and would meet with officials from Barcelona and Milan.
Initially it was thought the player – who fell out of favour at Barca last season as his form dipped and then subsequently an injury has seen him not play since March 9 – was reluctant to be present at the summit following the Spanish club’s refusal to release him for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
However, Ronaldinho will now meet with Barcelona’s technical director Txiki Begiristain and Milan’s vice-president Adriano Galliani.
One man confident that the deal will be concluded in time for Ronaldinho to be present at Milan’s opening training session on July 16 is Ernesto Bronzetti, the Italian club’s Spanish consultant.
“I spoke with Ronaldinho as he was leaving Porto Alegre for Barcelona and he told me I want to play for you’,” Bronzetti told the newspaper.
The consultant also suggested that the Italians would be happy to release the World Cup winner for Brazil’s attempt to win their first Olympic gold.
“I believe that Galliani has already said yes to him.”
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