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Former Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon has claimed that the sheer number of people involved in doing a deal for Ronaldinho put paid to the club’s efforts of signing the player.
The Brazilian was one of the most exciting talents in the world in 2003 after starring in Brazil’s World Cup win in 2002 and lighting up Europe with his flair and skill at Paris Saint-Germain.
After losing David Beckham that summer, United were desperate to add more talent to their side and were close to doing a deal for the talented Brazilian.
Nonetheless, it was not to be as he eventually moved to FC Barcelona, playing over 200 times for the Catalan giants where he won the Ballon d’Or in 2005.
United did end up signing a young Cristiano Ronaldo later in the summer but many fans still wonder how Ronaldinho would have fit in with such a star-studded line up that United boasted at the time, with players such as Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and Ruud van Nistelrooy at Sir Alex Ferguson’s disposal.
Former chief executive Peter Kenyon, who was in the position from 2000 to 2003, has shed light on the issue on the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube podcast.
Commenting on the infamous negotiations Kenyon claimed, “we did chase him hard. We did look at him hard. This was the same as any other transfer. Alex [Ferguson] would be involved in it. Critical decisions, why he’d want him, where he wants him, where he would play etc. So, Alex was involved all the way through.”
However, issues with the deal began to arise due to the complexities of dealing with so many parties, something United were not used to at the time.
“Normally, in these cases, you’re dealing with the player and his agent. Here, we’re dealing with the player, several agents and about 20 other people in the room. He’s a great player, but suddenly we’re into a whole different thing.”
Kenyon claimed that the club began to worry about what sort of “culture” that would introduce to other players at the club and also claimed the player’s famed lack of professionalism in other aspects of being a footballer also resulted in them pulling the plug on their interest.
“The Brazilian health culture is different. Fantastic player, but there are all sorts of other things that started to get introduced into all this, and he was clearly coming with a load of people. You know what United was like at that time. It was an institution, no one got treated differently than the rest.”
Whilst Ronaldinho is arguably one of the most talented players to have graced a football pitch and certainly one of the most exciting, his career fizzled out quite quickly after 2007 due to problems off the pitch and perhaps the club made the right call not to introduce such an influence into what was an uber-professional environment.
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