More silly press graspings at nothing...but Laporta's comments are a bit strange Barcelona boss fears club will lose Ronaldinho Posted: Wednesday April 28, 2004 7:07PM; Updated: Wednesday April 28, 2004 7:44PM MADRID, Spain (AP) -- FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta fears the club's Brazilian star Ronaldinho will be targeted for a transfer by Europe's richest clubs this summer. "I understand the player will receive very substantial offers and I trust he'll understand how highly regarded he is at Barcelona," Laporta told Catalunya Radio. "He is the master of his decisions. If he takes notice of the offers, he will stop being his own master." Laporta said Barcelona had no intention of selling Ronaldinho, whose spectacular displays in his first season have cheered Barcelona's long-suffering fans who have not seen their team lift a major trophy for five years. "The board's wish is to make every effort to keep Ronaldinho. But I'm also aware that it won't be easy because the teams that want him will offer Barcelona a lot of money. This doesn't worry me because we won't sell him," Laporta said. Laporta said his club hadn't received any bids for Ronaldinho so far although he said he didn't rule out offers from "a Russian oil tycoon" -- an apparent reference to Chelsea's owner Roman Abramovich -- or "an Arab sheik". Barcelona beat Manchester United and Real Madrid to sign Ronaldinho on a five-year contract from Paris Saint-Germain last July for euro25 million (US$28 million at the time) and up to another euro5 million (US$5.6 million) depending on the Catalan team's future results. Madrid reportedly wanted the Brazilian to remain with the French club for another season before moving to the Santiago Bernabeu this summer. Laporta, who won Barcelona's presidential election last June, turned his attention to Ronaldinho when he lost out to Madrid in his attempt to sign David Beckham. On Monday, Laporta told Radio Marca he was pleased with the way things had turned out. "Beckham is a great player but, with every respect, I'm glad I didn't sign him and got Ronaldinho instead," he said. The Brazil forward has helped Barcelona mount a 16-game unbeaten streak and led it to third place in the Spanish league, guaranteeing the club a berth in Champions League qualifying. Barcelona is five points behind leader Valencia with four rounds remaining. Ronaldinho, whose full name is Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, created the winning goal for Xavi Hernandez last Sunday with an impudent lob to earn Barcelona a 2-1 win over archrival Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
whats wrong with LaPorta's words? he's saying he wont sell Ronaldinho (at least in other sources hes been quoted saying so )
it just struck me as two separate messages, his saying how worried he is that Chelski or someone will swoop in with a ridiculous offer that he wont be able to say no to, and almost inviting it, and then saying "but it doesn't matter cuz we won't sell him"...or maybe i am reading way to much into it
That's the messege I got from it. Like, "oh chelsea, I hope you don't offer me too much money. I wouldn't be able to say no."
I think the possibility of ronaldinho leaving is just as big as henry leaving arsenal - hardly!!!! i'm a united fan and i could not believe the arrogce we showed psg when we tried to sign ronnie last year!!!!! if it wuz me i'd ov put 23 mil on the table straight!!!
Well if they offered the 100 mil euro needed to satisfy Ronaldinho's buyout clause I think that would do the trick, and that is a vast sum of money to be sure but obtaining the best player in the world would do much to placate the russians ego methinks.
again, this is very old news, and Laporta had like 3-4 statements clarifying that "Dinho is not for sale for all the money in the world"
Ther'e is also Ronaldinho's opinion to consider as a security measure. He already made it clear last year he had no intention of playing in England, I doubt it much has changed in that aspect.
I think this comment is a lead-in to justifying raising his salary unilaterally in the midst of a general policy of salary contention, where more and more Barça contracts have performance clauses. And where players like Saviola are being asked to renegotiate already signed deals (they want him to take his fixed salary and turn it into 80% if Barça win nothing in the year and up to 120% if they win the league or Champions, a sliding scale Saviola's agent and the player too are not happy about; note others have accepted this though, like Gerard, Kluivert himself, and all the new signings). The idea is that the best player on the team should have a salary that reflects his star status, and it is not Ronaldho's case. How do you raise his wages when others are being asked to contain? I think it is difficult, considering we are talking about a team effort in our success recently, just look at the way the goals are scored, or the defensive work keeping us close in so many away games until we can score. The Gaucho is just an important piece in the puzzle, but not the only reason for our good run by any means. The deal is that Ronaldinho's "clausula de recisión" (all Spain contracts have an automatic release clause set in the contract) is at 100 million Euros, accessible though a bit crazy for an Abramovich. He pays it and the guy walks, only if he wants to go of course (which I honestly think he doesn't). So you have to create a stronger incentive to stay. I don't know what he makes, but surely it is less than Kluivert, I think Overmaars also makes a lot more; consider that he came from PSG, comparatively much lower salary structure.