AC Milan have been lucky to witness some magical players put on the red and black shirt, but few of them have the same aura that Ronaldinho has.
It was back in July 2008 that Ronaldinho turned down a £25.5m offer from Manchester City to join Milan on a three-year contract thought to be worth around £5.1m (€6.5m) net per year, for a transfer fee of €22.05m (via Wikipedia).
The Daily Mail (via PianetaMilan) has revealed a background linked to Ronaldinho’s move to Milan by claiming that the Brazilian was sold because the fear of Barcelona at the time was that he would lead Messi down the wrong path.
The Catalan side knew that Ronaldinho was no longer training seriously and was more a fan of the nightlife and he did not properly take care of nutrition, so the fear was that Messi – as a fellow South American – would end up influencing him in the wrong way.
Pep Guardiola was also a part of this because he was a big advocate of players having a healthy weight and a top athletic condition. Adriano Galliani, the Milan CEO at the time, sensed the opportunity to add a superstar and pounced.
