Ronaldinho – The Bargain Brazilian?

“Ronaldinho is ours,” Silvio Berlusconi told Sky Italia late last night. The man with the money has spoken, and Ronaldinho is indeed in Milan today getting a medical. So looks like the long (long) awaited ‘Dinho to AC move is finally going to happen.

Latest reports put the fee at €21m, rising to €25m if certain (waistline related?) clauses* are met. Considering that Barca rejected a €60m offer from Silvio last summer, has Berlusconi got himself a bargain?

Suppose it depends how you look at it. Getting what you want for a third of what you offered looks like good business. But there are reasons that Ronny was in the bargain bin. He’s a bit like a ripe fruit that’s gone rotten. And by rotten, I mean fat.

On the other hand, Ronny’s only 28 and that fat can be shifted. Especially if Ronny does lots of this.

I still stand by my argument that we’ll never see the old Ronaldinho again, the one who looked unplayable and unbeatable and even had Madrista’s on their feet applauding his brilliance.

And if I was a Milan fan I’d be a little concerned about how Kaka and Ronaldinho fit into the same line-up. I remember it didn’t work too well at World Cup 2006 and I don’t think it’s any co-incidence that Ronaldinho’s G-Force inducing dip in form coincided with the rise of Leo Messi at Barca.

There’s a definite argument that ‘Dinho benefits from being the main man, and you could maybe even argue that he’d have been better off at Man City in this regard. But only maybe.

Either way, I’m sure everyone but Inter Milan (and possibly Barca) fans would love to see Ronaldinho rediscover some of that old magic:

*Champions League 2009/10 qualification

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Category: Serie A, World Football