Ronaldinho agent stirs things up

In an interview with Brazilian sports site Globo Esporte, Roberto de Assís, brother and agent of Barcelona playmaker Ronaldinho (28), said anything can happen at the end of this season and seems to suggest he would be willing to use the - since the so-called 'Webster ruling' famous - Article 17 of the FIFA transfer regulations, stating a player can leave after three year, having only to pay a compensation equalling the amount of the final years wages: "We know that there's a buyout clause of 125 million euro (°), but we also know of the existence of Article 17, which would make it possible to leave for far less." If the article is used, this would concretely mean Ronaldinho could leave Barcelona for about 16 million euro (°°).

Roberto, who says everything would change if Barcelona would win the Champions League, denied the rumour that he could use Porto Alegre, a club he owns, to transfer Ronaldinho to another club (read more here): "It's ridiculous to link Ronaldinho with Porto Alegre, a small second division team. His name should be linked with big clubs like Real Madrid or AC Milan without needing to pass by Porto Alegre." Adding that he doesn't want to exclude a transfer to Real Madrid, nor to any other club, mentioning the two Milan based teams.

Yesterday night, Roberto denied to Catalan radio station RAC 1 that he's planning to use Article 17 to dissolve Ronaldinho's contract with Barcelona: "I only replied when it was asked to me if I knew this legislation and of course I do." Rodrigo Sirico, the journalist of Globo Esporte who spoke with Roberto, nevertheless holds on to the first version and persists it was Ronaldinho's brother who brought up Article 17.

Roberto also said to RAC 1 there hasn't been any contact with Real Madrid. In an interview with Spanish television channel Cuatro, Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón denied that his club has any interest in Ronaldinho: "We consider that the players we have now in our squad are the best ones, so we don't have plans to change anything." In the coming days, Roberto will fly to Barcelona, where he could hold talks about the whole situation with Barcelona officials.

Meanwhile, Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that, of the many clubs following attentively the events surrounding Ronaldinho, English club Chelsea, who has been interested in the player for years and made an offer for him last summer, is at this moment the best placed team to bring in the Brazilian (read more here). Ronaldinho would have been discussed during a meeting on Tuesday between Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and player's agent Pini Zahavi, who has close relationships with Chelsea.

And to conclude: the rumour spread by different media since yesterday that Tottenham manager Juande Ramos would be interested in signing Ronaldinho is due to a misinterpretation of some quotes by the Spaniard in an interview with Catalan sports paper Sport.