Back door exit for one of the greatest players in the world!

In the 2002 world Cup match between Brazil and England, a funny looking long haired Brazilian scored with a stupendous free kick which made David Seamen look foolish. That was not just his impact on the game, he was soon to see a Red card, but went on to become a World Cup winner. That was the first time people really took notice of Ronaldinho Gaucho who was already a superstar in the French top league playing for PSG. Real Madrid was the first target destination, but with the Beckham saga, Madrid bought the Englishman and arch rivals Barcelona welcomed Ronaldinho. The new #10 at Barca took time to really show case his skills, but once he got going there was no stopping him. He has won the FIFA World Player of the year, European Footballer of the year and FIFPro World Player of the year award. As a Real Madrid fan i still remember a couple of seasons back, at the peak of Ronaldinho's form with Barca, a trip to the Bernabeu resulted in the Madrid fans pulling out the white cloth and cheering and chanting his name.

207 matches and 94 goals and 5 seasons later, the one player that took Barca to the heights of Champions League and La Liga success was shown the door, or rather Dinho accepted to walk out the door without much fuss. Barca are a bit notorious in these non significant exits of players who have done such a lot for them. Having been plagued with injuries last term and a limited outing of 12 La Liga games, and his personal life coming under the scrutiny, we may say some of this is self inflicted.

Barca spent about 21M GBP for the services of the Brazilian in 2003, and welcomed bids from Man City which was reportedly at 25.5M GBP. Ronaldinho declined the move and instead opted to join AC Milan who had the bargain of their life when they paid 21M Euros to tie the Brazilian to a 3 year contract. With Real Madrid's Ronaldo chase the most publicized articles in the press, the Ronaldinho transfer was just a whisper in the wind. Milan were not shy of their capture, this was the first player welcome press meet to be held at the San Siro. There were 40,000 fans to welcome the Brazilian.
Few days later the question on everyone's mind was what jersey number would Dinho wear since Seedorf already was the #10 at Milan. Dinho's primary commercial sponsors R10 should be the once worried. Later it was decided that Ronaldinho will wear #80, his birth year and that Seedorf will still play in midfield alongside Kaka and Ronaldinho. It will be really interesting to see the combination work in midfield for Milan. The Italian giants struggled through the last season for goals, and finishing off games, but is Ronaldinho the man to do it for them? The club sold striker Gilardino this summer and now have very few options in that position. They were linked with possible bids for Arsenal's Adebayor and Samuel Eto from Barca, but with the money spent on the Ronaldinho transfer, Milan would struggle to cuff up that kind of money.

For me Dinho is still one of the best players that i have seen in my time. It was the Brazilian's "Thank You" note that was the first kind of any communication on this on the Barca web site.

As a fan of La Liga, and football time for me to say shame on you Barca and Thank You, Ronaldinho....Anyone who questions the greatness of the player needs to take a walk.

Do you have a transfer target Real Madrid?

After the Euro Championships the transfer market has been rather silent apart from a few preposterous rumors of who is going where. The whole world is glued on the possible world record transfer bid from Real Madrid for the services of Christiano Ronaldo. For the same period that Real have shown interest in the Portuguese winger, Man U have openly declined to do business. We have had Sir Alex meeting up with Ronaldo and telling him that the best club for him to be is at Man U, and don't go chasing the extra buck. Player contracts are so well defined these days that just by splashing out 80 or 100M richer clubs cannot throw their weight around. It is well documented that Madrid is using the media to such an extend that you have one piece on this transfer saga every day. Man U are complaining that this is unsettling the player. But is Man U in a position to complain? They have used the same tactics the time they used the media to price out Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves. Real President promised Ronaldo, Kaka and Robben in his election campaign. OK he dint get the first two, but the club after disappointing trophy less four years from 2003-2007 have built a strong team with good utility players.

Winning the Spanish La Liga two years and the way they won it last year specifically shows that they don't need a big team make over. What the Madrid midfield is missing is a right winger or even a decent right sided player. All through the last season Schuster tried almost 30 combinations in the Madrid midfield and only one with two wingers. Both Robben and Robinho prefer to play on the left and with the addition of Ronaldo a striker or a central midfielder will have to give way. Wesley Sneijder who has been one of the best signings Madrid has done in the recent past has already gone public in stating that one player with such a high wage cap could be unsettling for the dressing room. This statement could more to do with Dutchman worried on losing his spot in the starting 11.

With the chase for Ronaldo's signature stalled with Man U sticking to their original stand, the Media have moved on to other players. A day after Sir Alex meeting with Ronaldo, word is Madrid have moved on to other targets. But who are these targets? Well Rafael Van Der Vaart is one, who has been a target for years, and in my opinion will be an excellent signing, but wait he would probably end up being another candidate warming the bench. For the Dutch national team both Sneijder and Van Der Vaart played together in the midfield but there is going to be much more competition at Madrid.

The press claimed that Chelsea made an checked on the status of Kaka with Milan with the arrival of Ronaldinho. Milan officials claimed that the only club who checked with them were Real Madrid and they were given the answer that "Kaka is not for sale even for 300M". For Real Madrid Kaka should have been the first choice instead of pursuing Ronaldo. It is true that Kaka has declined a move year after year to Madrid, but has Ronaldo committed for a move to Madrid.

Real Madrid officials are claimed to have met with Valencia before the Euro Championships to discuss a possible bid for David Villa. Real seriously have a problem with their striking options. The entire last campaign the only dip in goal scoring came when Van Nistelrooy was injured. I had written in few of my posts last season that Schuster needs to give more playing time to Saviola and Soldado. With Benefica interested in Saviola, and Getafe given till the end of the week to meet Madrid's valuation on Soldado, that leaves last year's super sub Higuain. They need to bring in a quality striker and the best choice was Villa. He is relatively young, is Spanish and more importantly is in terrific form. Both Raul and Van Nistelrooy are producing the goals, but what if either of them gets injured? Over the past two days Real Madrid Manager is claimed to have said that he wants Samuel Eto' in this side. Few problems Schuster...Barca have told possible interested parties that they would not listen to any offers less than 30M for the Cameroon striker. Do you want to pay this money and a huge weekly wage for a player who left Madrid youth ranks and bad mouthed the club and the fans after being on Barca pay roll? With Guti and Casillas making statements that Eto' is welcome back in the capital city this does not seem to be just another rumor. Samuel Eto' is such a character that his place is anywhere but Real Madrid....

Madrid was wise and smart in their transfers over the past couple of summers, and really dont need to add many players to the roster. But the names that they have been linked to does not fit in with the current squad or what the team really needs. So let us see what transpires in the next week or so, because as i see it Madrid put all the eggs in one Ronaldo basket.