50 Years Over 100 Years - Ronaldinho - Spectacular Success or Failure?

Ronaldinho - Spectacular Success or Failure?

RONALDINHO

By dixon9 June 23 2008
Just over a season ago, Ronaldinho was hailed as the best player in the world and just two days ago, the Brazilian and Barcelona star has stated that he wants to come to the Premier League. Manchester City are definitely interested in him but the jury is out on whether Chelsea will really put an official bid in for the player or not. Ronaldinho at Chelsea – a good idea?

Why ask the question if a short time ago he was the best in the world? Well he’s spent the last year missing training and enthusiastically participating in the Catalonian night-life. He put on weight and spent more time on the bench than on the field and just after the season ended, one Barcelona suit claimed that Ronaldinho “Had issues”.

Chelsea spent a record equalling 30M quid on Shevchenko which so far, hasn’t shown anything like a decent return on the investment – would Kenyon and co risk getting their fingers burnt again?

The squad does need a fresh injection of players and with Scolari at the helm and Abramovich´s wish for a more aesthetic style of football, Ronaldinho – or at least a Ronaldinho with the right attitude, could be key to the transition.

Ronaldinho flick

"Every player would love to play in such a competitive championship like the English league.”

"I am happy because almost all the teams want me to play for them."

These latest comments follow a recent statement to the media where the player said he would like to “cross paths” with Scolari again in the future.

Whether we are REALLY interested in Ronaldinho anyway is another question. Abramovich spent a weekend wining and dining his brother at the end of last season but in contrast, during an interview over the clubs finances, Peter Kenyon denied that we would be making a bid for the Brazilian (although he did look rather sheepish as he did so!).

Ronaldinho is recuperating back home in the city of Porto Alegre following a knee injury and hasn’t kicked a ball in earnest for around 3 months.

My feeling is that Ronaldinho may well be using the bid of City’s owner Thaksin Shinawatra to flush out any possible interest from Chelsea – although I would hope we don’t match the reported salary being offered to him by the Manchester club.

The fact is Ronaldinho has come to the end of the tax break period that all foreign players enjoy when they first work in Spain and he NEEDS to move if he wants his salary to increase as it has done every year since he’s been playing at Barcelona – but would Chelsea want to put another dent in their aim to break even in the next few years?

If there’s anyone who could sort out Ronaldinho and bring him back to receive the accolade of the best in the world then it’s Scolari – if he failed then it would be an expensive embarrassment.

Ronaldinho could be a spectacular success – or a spectacular failure. Time will tell if we are prepared to risk it.

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