Milan sign Ronaldinho and pay £10m less than City bid
Manchester City’s audacious attempt to sign Ronaldinho was finally killed off last night when AC Milan agreed a deal with Barcelona for the Brazil playmaker.
Ronaldinho, who fell out of favour during his fifth season at Barcelona, will sign a three-year contract in Milan today after completing the routine medical examination.
Milan have reportedly agreed to pay £14.6m for the 28-year-old former Fifa World Player of the Year – around £10m less than City had offered.
“AC Milan and Barcelona have reached an agreement in principle over the transfer of Ronaldinho,” the Italian club said in a statement on their website last night.
“The player will be in Milan (on Wednesday) to undergo a medical and sign a contract that will keep him at Milan until June 30 2011.”
City owner Thaksin Shinawatra had sanctioned a huge financial package in an attempt to lure Ronaldinho to a team that improved markedly last season but still only finished ninth in the Premier League.
As well as offering Barcelona a fee of around £24m, City were ready to make Ronaldinho the highest-paid player in the world with a wage of around £200,000-a-week. Ronaldinho has reportedly agreed a contract with Milan worth around £5m per year – less than half what he could have earned at City, and despite Milan not reaching the Champions League.
City publicly never gave up hope of pulling off the transfer coup, despite Ronaldinho’s apparent indifference to their interest and his stated desire to join Milan.
Ronaldinho’s arrival is likely to end Milan’s interest in Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, having said they would sign only one of the two players. However, the deal could give Barcelona enough cash to step up their own pursuit of Adebayor.