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.
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.
3 comments:
Vivek , very good posting, keep it up
have u heard the news of mr ambaini planning to buy the toons
Thanks Thomas for the encouragement, i hope you keep coming back....
Spartan- I read today that there is indeed no talks what so over and it was all a media speculation...
On a different note you must be happy with Keane joining Liverpool finally...At 20Mils maybe a bit over prized but he is still young and it will be a treat to see him alongside Torres...
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