Ronaldinho can negotiate with other teams

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Barcelona economic vice-president Ferran Soriano met on Monday with Roberto de Assís, brother and agent of Barcelona playmaker Ronaldinho (28). The paper says that Soriano is the one who normally deals with Roberto and that a possible exit maybe wasn't even discussed.

Catalan sports paper Sport nevertheless claims that Barcelona has already let Roberto know that Barcelona does not count on the player anymore and that he can look for another team. But while Roberto, who has spoken by phone with Barcelona sports vice-president Marc Ingla and Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain, wants to close the deal in the next two weeks, Barcelona does not see the need to hurry. The paper says that it's Roberto's wish that his brother joins AC Milan, but that he keeps the Premier League option wide open in order to make Milan put more money on the table.

Meanwhile, Madrid sports tabloid Marca seems to entertain itself with the whole situation. While the tabloid claims this afternoon that Roberto de Assís could use Article 17 of the Fifa transfer regulations and offer his brother to Atlético Madrid (read more here) and Real Madrid (read more here) for a reduced price, it claimed this morning that Roberto would have received an offer from Chinese club Beijing Guoan.

Ronaldinho's brother would have met last week with Félix Moneo, the club's representative in Spain. The Chinese Super League team, who is also trying to attract former Barcelona player Diego Maradona as manager, has offered Ronaldinho two options: on the one hand a contract for a few months, so his stay in China can be used as a temporary stop allowing him to return to Europe, on the other hand a long-term contract. The player would get a salary increase, but Beijing Guoan would only be willing to pay Barcelona a transfer fee of 12 million euro°. The two parties would meet again this week.