With Milan finally having come out of their "here's ten million euro, he only wants us and the transfer market ends on the 31st of August" position and now going all in, two English Premier League clubs are said to be still trying to convince Barcelona playmaker and Brazilian international Ronaldinho (28) to reject the Italian offer.British tabloid The Daily Mail claims that Manchester City officials flew into Barcelona last night. President Thaksin Shinawatra's chief negotiator Pairoj Piempongsant led a delegation for meetings with Barcelona president Joan Laporta and for fresh talks with the Brazilian star himself.
Manchester City executive chairman Garry Cook said last night in an interview with British newspaper The Guardian that his club had made significant advances in their attempt to sign Ronaldinho from Barcelona: "You sometimes wish all the clutter would move out of the way. But I continue to be encouraged because we are ticking all the boxes. That has been the case all the way through and we are ticking those boxes really quickly now.
I can confirm that we have made a bid. It has been a complicated process, not least because the Barcelona organisation has just gone through a fundamental change because of their elections, meaning that a new general manager is in place and we are talking to different people than before. But in the simplest terms, we have made an offer, it has been received and Barcelona are reviewing it.
We are determined to do everything we can to make this happen. The player has a commitment to play in the Olympics, which is another complication, but we, like any good club, would allow him to honour his responsibility to his country.
As for his intentions, they are somewhat muddled because of the interest from elsewhere, but what I can say is that he has shown a genuine interest in playing for Manchester City. He is not playing games with us. He just wants to play football. And the really important thing is, does he want to play in the Premier League? If you were to ask him that, his answer would emphatically be yes."
British tabloid The Sun meanwhile claims that also Chelsea has joined the race with a last minute attempt by new Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. The Brazilian coach spoke by phone with Ronaldinho yesterday. Chelsea would offer Barcelona 20 million euro°.
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Ronaldinho on his way to Manchester City
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