How to Buy a Ronaldo

By: Martha | January 3rd, 2008

Come and get me, bitches. The day after Christmas, Flamengo president Kleber Leite proudly told the media that AC Milan had given him permission to open negotiations with Ronaldo, who has played in just a single match for his club this season. (He warmed up for another one but got hurt doing it. Maybe a sign god wants him to quit?) The news, however, came as a bit of a shock to The Milan Family, who announced rather huffily that no such permission had been given, and that Leite best keep his hands off their precious, increasingly useless, striker. Happily for transfer window rumors, Leite doesn’t care what Milan want, and is moving forward in his rapidly expanding effort to bring the portly one back to Rio.

Yesterday, the Brazilian press reported Leite’s assertion that, despite the fact that Ronaldo was on his way to Dubai for training, he’d left his lawyer behind to work out a deal with Flamengo, and that he’d be back in two or three weeks to join his new team. Well, he would be if said team could rustle up some cash to make it happen. Not to worry, though — he’s full of ideas!

First, Ronaldo needs to buy out the rest of his contract with Milan, because Flamengo can’t afford to pay whatever the outrageous transfer fee would be and, since they want him for the Copa Libertadores, can’t wait until summer, when he can move for free. Once Ronaldo does his bit, there’s the little matter of paying his salary which, at the moment, amounts to a mere €4 million/season, something Flamengo evidently cannot afford. So, Leite says, they’re going to let Ronaldo keep his image rights. (Conveniently, this promise is very vague — I can’t imagine, even in Kleber Leite’s fantasy land, that the club wouldn’t get any cash from Ronaldo-branded Flamengo shirts.) That, however, will not be enough, so the club are reportedly turning to their sponsors for an infusion of cash.

Got all that? Supposedly the whole contract thing — for three years, plus a job in a Flamengo tie for Ronaldo after he retires — is totally worked out and the financial backers are into the idea, but since even Liete admits “we haven’t gone into the figures,” there’s obviously a long (long, long) way to go. (And Milan, as usual, are denying everything.)