Ronaldinho Set To Stay With Barcelona
Ronaldinho could be set to commit his future to Barcelona and take Pep Guardiola up on his challenge after Boca Juniors enquiry was met with a rejection.
The Brazilian superstar has yet to officially announce his next move but his brother and agent, Roberto de Assis, has now started to regularly state that he wants to complete his contract at Camp Nou, according to Sport.
AC Milan, and Manchester City have both been strongly linked with a mega money move for the 28-year-old, but with the Italians' interest now cooling off and the player not keen on England, other clubs are trying their luck.
Chelsea are also said to have thrown their hat in the ring, but Roman Abramovich wanted the player two seasons ago and his interest appears to now lie elsewhere.
Along with Brazilian outfits Palmeiras and Internacional, Argentinian giants Boca Juniors made a direct approach when their vice-president, Juan Carlos Crespi, spoke to Ronaldinho himself.
During Brazil's recent international with Argentina, the Xeneizes' official gave his card to the player and asked whether he would consider joining his club.
While no automatic response was forthcoming, De Assis made it clear that Boca would likely miss out because Ronaldinho was prepared to stay and win his place back at Barça.
"He has a contract with Barcelona until 2010 and the idea is that he will stay there," he stated.
Guardiola held talks with Ronaldinho before he went on holiday and challenged the former PSG star to return to the club and become the player he was three seasons ago.
The new Blaugrana coach is a huge fan of Ronaldinho and is thought to have tried to talk him into staying during their meeting and that could have changed the whole scenario.
goal.com