Chelsea Set To Realise 60m Ronaldinho Dream - Report

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Chelsea Set To Realise 60m Ronaldinho Dream - Report


Ronaldinho's future has hit the headlines again as Chelsea's plot to splash €60m to prise him away from FC Barcelona is set to become reality, according to Sport.

The Brazilian's future has been the subject of debate for over a year and despite all the assurances that he wants to stay at Camp Nou the rumours persist.

Catalan daily Sport believe that Chelsea supremo Roman Abramovich is desperate to land his man as he bids to rebuild the Premiership outfit before the start of next season.

While the press in England claim that chief executive Peter Kenyon and sporting director Frank Arnesen are against buying Ronaldinho, Sport sees things differently.

Kenyon is reported to have mentioned the Brazilian superstar to Barça directors during G-14 meetings, but was met with a firm rejection of any proposal.

Former Barça assistant coach, Henk ten Cate, has used his new position at Stamford Bridge to talk to the player to discover if he would be open to a move, the Catalan paper states.

Another key factor in Abramovich's desire is that he now believes Ronaldinho's wage demands would not break the bank and that he would ask for the same salary as Michael Ballack.

Allied to that, the Chelsea owner believes that the former PSG forward has at least five more years at the top left in him and the outlay would be offset by the huge marketing boost his arrival would instigate.

Sport then include Ballack in the outlandish story as they state that the Blues could try and include him in any deal because Barça were keen on signing him two years ago.

Despite that, the report then claims that Blaugrana technical secretary Txiki Beguiristáin would veto a move for the German due to his age and injury problems.

It is a strange story for the paper to run at a time when Frank Rijkaard and his squad are looking to calm their nerves after receiving hefty criticism for the team's away performances.

Lucas Brown, Goal.com