Galaxy would take on a lot with high-maintenance Ronaldinho
If you wouldn’t buy a used car from Silvio Berlusconi, the AC Milan president who doubles as Italy’s prime minister, why would you buy a used soccer player from the man?
Sure, the New York Red Bulls have been suckered into splashing out a bundle of money for French forward Thierry Henry and soon will do the same for Mexico defender Rafael Marquez, but New Yorkers have been taken to the cleaners by a whole succession of past-their-prime soccer players — Roberto Donadoni, Lothar Matthaeus, Claudio Reyna, the list is endless.
“He is not over the hill,” Red Bulls Coach Hans Backe said defensively, preempting the obvious question about Henry.
“Everybody knows that I love this city,” said Henry, presumably not referring to the team’s Harrison, N.J., digs.
And sure, the Chicago Fire has been fooled into believing that Mexican never-has-been Nery Castillo could be the second coming of Cuauhtemoc Blanco, which he is not, but at least the Fire has a get-out-of-jail card. It obtained Castillo, 26, on loan from Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk and can send him back where he came from if need be.
The Galaxy, meanwhile, is said to be dangling $24 million in front of AC Milan and Brazilian star Ronaldinho, in its latest move to achieve, well, no one is really clear just what Galaxy owner AEG has in mind. Although a Ronaldinho-for-Landon-Donovan swap could be the game plan.
The Galaxy already has a competitive team, with the best record in Major League Soccer. It already has solid attendance. It already has “name” players in Donovan and David Beckham. It plays in MLS, so even signing 11 Ronaldinhos would not lift it to European Champions League level. MLS is where it is at and where it will stay.
So what exactly is AEG after?
A few thousand more seats filled with warm bodies at the Home Depot Center in Carson and around the league? Possibly. A trip to the MLS Cup final? Been there, done that. Higher ticket prices and a bunch more shirts sold all across the land? Plausible and profitable, but can AEG manage the trick?
Berlusconi has stated flatly that no matter what offer comes his way from the Galaxy, or from another would-be suitor, the Flamengo club in Brazil, Ronaldinho is staying put.
“Ronaldinho is not transferable and we’re all in agreement that he will remain at Milan as long as he continues to play,” Berlusconi said Tuesday. “I have not spoken to him recently, but it is certain that he will be renewing his contract. . . . I consider him the best player of all time.”
All of which is a flowery and convoluted way of saying: “If the offer is more generous and if new AC Milan Coach Massimiliano Allegri opts not to give Ronaldinho much playing time, we can talk.”
The Brazilian is gifted, of that there is no doubt. He is an entertainer, capable of lighting up a stadium. He is only 30, unlike Henry, who turns 33 next month, so there are still quite a few miles left on the tires, even if Brazil did not take him to the World Cup this year.
But Ronaldinho is also high maintenance. As much as he enjoys entertaining on the field, he enjoys even more being entertained off the field. Suffice to say the word “party’ figures prominently in his vocabulary. It got him into trouble when he played at FC Barcelona and it could give Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena fits.
Ronaldinho’s brother and agent, Roberto de Assis, is playing it coy. Ronaldinho is under contract with AC Milan through 2011 and there is a new offer on the table through 2013, so De Assis has time to play one side against another.
The agent told Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport on Sunday that Beckham wants Ronaldinho in Los Angeles. “Should an agreement not be reached for a renewal at Milan, this could be an option for next summer,” De Assis said.
Then, almost in the same breath, De Assis admitted that Ronaldinho would like to end his career with Flamengo. “This is his dream,” he said.
The Galaxy has been staying silent on all this, but several scenarios are possible.
The most likely one is that Donovan returns to Europe after this MLS season, despite Commissioner Don Garber’s insistence that “it is my hope and my expectation that we have him for the rest of his career.” That’s Garber playing the Berlusconi role.
Donovan, 28, could rejoin English Premier League team Everton, whose captain, Phil Neville, said last week: “I know for a fact that he wants to come back here.” Or Donovan could be snapped up by cash-rich Manchester City, whose coach, Roberto Mancini, said Wednesday that a pricey move for Donovan “could be possible.”
Would Galaxy fans trade Donovan for Ronaldinho, straight up? It seems to be the move AEG is trying to pull off. Don’t bet against it happening, no matter what Berlusconi and Garber say.
