And This Was When He Was Still in Spain
So we haven’t been ignoring this, but it was on-again off-again. And even if it went through we didn’t think we had much to say about it that wasn’t obvious.
Oh “it” is the whole Ronaldinho to Blackburn deal.
There was apparently a statement on the Venky’s website a couple of days ago that a bid had been put in, then that statement was taken down. Then it seemed like there was no deal in the works and the bucktoothed Brazilian would head back home as was thought he would all along (probably to Gremio, maybe to Palmeras).
FSR was even reporting last night that he was going back to Brazil (of course they were also showing Arsenal highlights from 3 days ago, so we’re not sure exactly how current they were in the story’s lifecycle).
So today Blackburn Rovers are again saying they are trying to sign Ronaldinho for a reported £6.2M fee and a total three-year package worth around £20M.
And we thought we still didn’t have much to say. Then manager Steve Kean let loose with the following: “If any Premier League manager was asked if they wanted to sign someone who has been World Player of the Year twice they would be interested. That is something that puts us on the map in terms of trying to bring players of that stature to the club.”
First off there are no other 2-time winners. Originaldo and Zindane won three times each. But let’s not quibble over technicalities. More importantly, Ronaldinho was World Player of the year in 2004 and 2005. So he’s more than five years removed from the height of his skills.
He was getting a reputation for becoming fat and lazy when he got shipped out of Barcelona at the end of the 2007-2008 season. He had to go to Italy, where let’s face it, speed doesn’t currently have the premium it does in England and Spain.
He’s out of shape, doesn’t seem particularly motivated, and on the wrong side of 30. Something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Massimiliano Allegri as so far this season at Milan, Ronaldinho has made just three appearances.
So yeah, he’ll totally fit right in with the Route 1 bruisers still littering the Allardyce roster. Or possibly we’re just not sure what kind of map Kean wants to be on.
Maybe we’re still not adding anything that isn’t obvious. The easiest way to do that is find the prevailing reaction (e.g. “This is a bad idea”) then take the opposite position and see if you can argue it.
But about the only positive we can see is that Blackburn Rovers might sell a few more tickets to the first couple of home matches with Ronnie in the squad. Even then, will really serious Rovers fans want to pay to see someone over-the-hill and out of shape? And if that’s the case, does the new ownership not realize that Benjani is already on the squad?
Although if their strategy is to overpay has-beens, this might work out as their primary competition has a salary cap of around $2.5M per team and a limited number of designated player exemptions (Zing!).
We just wonder how so many ostensibly smart people who made so much money in one area of business can be so stupid when it comes to another? But if the EPL now has its own Daniel Snyder (overpay for has-beens again and again), then how could we not welcome them? As this might be the first in what could be a long series of seriously bad but utterly farcical decisions.
dude will probably sell more than £20 million in jerseys alone, so for blackburn, prolly a good move
otoh, beckham to spurs…..
Christ, its not bad enough I have to be back at work this morning, but no, then I find out this joke of a rumor actually has some legs to it…
@whiz: this morning ‘Arry is backing down from the Beckham rumors, saying he doesn’t like the idea of a 3-month loan deal. I’m starting to wonder if this wasn’t a smokescreen for a different deal.
In an added bit of fun, JWAF is twittering about wanting Beckham at Emirates.
In Brazil, everyone’s convinced he’ll either go to Gremio or Flamengo. The latter somehow came up with 18M over 2 years to convince ‘dinho to stay, and he was seen hanging out in Rio last weekend. Although he made his name at Gremio, Rio has a better party scene than Porto Alegre, so he’ll probably go there unless he really fancies a pit stop at Blackburn first.
I don’t think it’s that terrible of an idea. At the least, it would be lots of fun for a few weeks.
As for Beckham, doesn’t his potential value keep diving for every day this goes on? If he’s only going to be around until mid-March anyways, why not have a deal lined up at the start of January?
whiz: Really? You really think that either locally or even globally people will want a Ronnie Blackburn shirt? I don’t.
Does anyone know how much Venky’s are actually good for money wise? I saw a report saying the company as a whole made 29m GBP last year. Is that a lot?
Site’s really wonky today. I can’t see new comments unless I post one, and I have to re-enter my email and username each time I comment.
And now I can’t see new comments, at all.
It’s back for now.
I’m with PR here: I don’t see a big shirt sale boost. They’d probably sell more by signing Beckham, IMHO.
@PR – no, but you know who might? India.
@phil – Beckham trained with Arsenal in January 08 to stay in shape. AW talked him up at the time – good influence, still has it, all that – but give me a break. Or do you mean the ACTUAL emirates, in which case he’ll enjoy a nice pay package. And prolly sell some shirts too
At this point, doesn’t everyone in the entire world own a Becks shirt from at least one of his clubs over the last decade?
Breaking News: Chicken Chokers Venky’s Sign Ghost of George Best for Rovers. Kean says, “Anybody would want to sign a football hall of famer.”
I’ve been trying to decide whether to get a Modric or Bale shirt this year. But if Beckham comes to Spurs, I’d totally buy a Becks jersey instead. Spurs legend, he is.
@whiz: Wilshere actually tweeted he wanted Becks to come to l’Arse.
If he does go to Spurs, I guarantee he wears the armband at some point before the end of February.
@ LE: I’m assuming this is a new shirt to wear in case your Teemu Tainio jersey is dirty.
@ Ryan: Has Goldenmort ever worn the armband in LA if ABE was unavailable?
@Ryan: I dunno. Unlike MCFC, the armband at Spurs is not an attendance award.
@OM: You’re just jealous because you lost your Rocha shirt.
@ phil: As usual, you are correct–it was somehow misplaced with a Ben Alnwick keeper kit and hasn’t been seen since.
@OM: Beckham was captain at Galaxy from the time he arrived until Landycakes replaced him. Not sure when that was exactly. Doubtless this was a contract clause when he came to Galaxy, but I’d be shocked if he got such an accomodation from Spurs.
@OM: Beckham was given the captaincy when he arrived at the club. Not sure if he’s worn it since Landon got it back, I’d imagine so.
Anyways, I made that comment more in regard to ‘Arry’s seeming lack of regard for the captaincy (see Gallas wearing it earlier in the year).
@ phil: Agree, if Daws is on the pitch, it’s usually his.
@OM: he was named the captain before he ever played a game.
@OM: I think the first half-season he was around, Landy D gave him the armband as a show of respect. There was a fairly big deal made about it.
@ TFA, Ryan: Thanks; As you can tell, I’ve not paid too much attention to the Galaxy other than the love notes TSE passed along during his liveblogs.
Yeah, I never read Wahl’s book about it, but wasn’t that a pretty big piece of Landon’s complaint in there?
And I don’t get the jibe about the MCFC captaincy attendance award phil. Is it not normal for your captain to issue transfer requests and make retirement ultimatums?
@ Ryan: I think I got the book as a gift and returned it w/ou reading–saw Goldenmort’s face on the cover of a book and rejected it out of hand. As for captains, we’re conditioned for them to have myriad leg/knee injuries, so Spurs captains can never win perfect attendance awards.
@Ryan: Just a little windup, that’s all. Giving Tevez that armband the week after his pout was pretty funny, but I completely agree with you re: ‘Arry’s callousness with all things armband. However, like OM says, as long as Daws or Hudd is on the pitch, no one else sniffs the armband.