Ronaldinho will go to the Olympics and it is confirmed he took a pay cut so Milan could beat Manchester City’s offer.
“Our bid was considerably lower than that of Manchester City, but we managed to close that gap thanks to the Barcelona player’s sacrifices,” revealed general manager Adriano Galliani.
It is said the Brazilian agreed to forego his percentage of the transfer fee in order to facilitate the move to the club he wanted.
“These sacrifices are what contributed greatly to closing this deal in favour of Milan. He has already proved he wants to push himself to the limit, as otherwise he could’ve relaxed with an incredibly lucrative contract in England.
“If he came to us, it’s because he wants to become number one again.”
Ronaldinho received something else in return, as Barca had banned him from attending the Beijing Olympics as part of Brazil’s squad.
“He had some previous engagements that we will respect. Had he already been a Milan player, we would have kept him back, but seeing as he will only officially become ours next week we will let him go to the Olympics.”
It will be an opportunity for the 28-year-old to rediscover his form and fitness after a period of inactivity due to injuries, not to mention the chance to gel with his new club teammate Alexandre Pato.
Dinho is undergoing his medical this afternoon and will sign the contract afterwards, but his official presentation to the media has been put back until tomorrow or possibly even Friday.
“We realised when we drove up to Milanello that there was a new air of enthusiasm around. Dinho has been training hard and has already lost his belly, he’s thin and taut.”
Ronaldinho’s arrival on the day that pre-season training begins has closed the door on Andriy Shevchenko.
“We have signed six new players,” continued Galliani. “We made an offer for Sheva and, if Ronaldinho didn’t come, then we would have gone for him. Dinho was always the first choice, though.
“Nobody else will arrive, although Alberto Paloschi, Abate and possibly Dario Simic could leave. Marco Borriello is absolutely not on the market.
“We have a competitive squad that is no inferior to Inter, Roma, Juventus or Fiorentina. As we are not in the Champions League, our objective is the Scudetto. We’ve never won the UEFA Cup before, so that too would be a nice addition.”
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