Ronaldinho's brother - who also acts as his agent - flew
into Thailand for talks with Manchester City last night. He asked
for a personal audience with City's powerful owner Thaksin
Shinawatra to gauge the interest in the Barcelona
playmaker.
The most unlikely transfer of the summer that would take the
Brazilian forward to the City of Manchester Stadium is still some
way off, with City uncertain as to whether he is worth the
financial risk.
Ronaldinho would demand a salary of around £200,000-a-week which
would make him the highest paid player in the world. Ronaldinho can
leave Barcelona and it was believed he would go to AC Milan, but
they appear to have gone cool on the deal.
Ronaldinho's brother, Roberto De Assis, was the guest of City's
Thai board for their Premier League match with Manchester City in
April, as exclusively revealed in Sportsmail. City are to appoint a
new manager in the next month and will also have a new executive
chairman, Nike supremo Garry Cook by June 1.
Shinawatra would rather Cook and the new manager lead their
transfer business, but that did not stop De Assis taking a flight
to check out a potential offer. Europe's other clubs seem to be
backing off taking Ronaldinho.
Cook has experience of working with some of Nike's biggest names
and Ronaldinho has a long-standing arrangement with the world's
leading boot manufacturers.
