Ronaldinho

Yeah, as far as I remember everything was done and dusted. Kenyon had verbally agreed a fee with the PSG chief ex. then he pissed him off by faxing in a lower bid than what they had agreed on. PSG got furious and offered Ronaldinho to Barcelona, proper amateur hour from us.

Edit: Didn't see that GB had posted the same story :lol:

It is truly amazing what a grand feck up that was. Whether Kenyon was playing games or not is open to opinion, but how a fax was allowed to be sent with a lower offer beggars belief.

I wonder what SAF's opinion is on all of this. I wonder was he secretly furious at Kenyon
 
I think Kenyon sabotaged the deal on purpose.

Would not surprise me the slightest!

It is truly amazing what a grand feck up that was. Whether Kenyon was playing games or not is open to opinion, but how a fax was allowed to be sent with a lower offer beggars belief.

I wonder what SAF's opinion is on all of this. I wonder was he secretly furious at Kenyon

Almost too amateurish to not have been on purpose if you ask me. I bet Ferguson was livid, it will be extremely interesting to read his new biography when/if it gets published. I really hope this issue will be touched upon.
 
Would not surprise me the slightest!



Almost too amateurish to not have been on purpose if you ask me. I bet Ferguson was livid, it will be extremely interesting to read his new biography when/if it gets published. I really hope this issue will be touched upon.

I did a bit of a google search on this, and it seems at the time they stood in agreeance on all of this, but I believe this was prior to Kenyon moving to Chelsea. How much SAF knew of Kenyon's plans remains to be seen.

I'd say if SAF knew feck all about Kenyon's plan to move to Chelsea, he would have been livid over the Ronaldinho feck up on Kenyon's departure.

Bring on the Bio!!
 
My favourite player of all time, loved watching him play.

I was gutted to find out we didn't sign him, I remember checking SSN every morning before school to see if the deal had been completed. I even transfered him to United on Pro Evo anticipating his move to us. So disappointing.

All was forgotten after Ronaldo's debut performance against Bolton though :drool:
 
My favourite player of all time, loved watching him play.

I was gutted to find out we didn't sign him, I remember checking SSN every morning before school to see if the deal had been completed. I even transfered him to United on Pro Evo anticipating his move to us. So disappointing.

All was forgotten after Ronaldo's debut performance against Bolton though :drool:

My favourite player as well, as a technical player, there has never been anyone better or even as good.

But, I agree that it was forgotten after Ronaldos debut for United. I have never in the many years I have supported United been so excited about anything (apart from winning the PL and CL) as that debut. Never had I seen such a talent at United and it was evident from the first touch on the ball. I remember the day after as well, think I read all the papers the day after. Everyone was talking about him after the game, not just United supporters.

Could see how proud and excited SAF was as well.
 
Yeah, as far as I remember everything was done and dusted. Kenyon had verbally agreed a fee with the PSG chief ex. then he pissed him off by faxing in a lower bid than what they had agreed on. PSG got furious and offered Ronaldinho to Barcelona, proper amateur hour from us.

Edit: Didn't see that GB had posted the same story :lol:

Didn't Kenyon cock up the Robben transfer as well ?
 
Would have been interesting had we signed him and how things may have turned out. Still reckon we would have signed Ronaldo. Rooney in 2004, not sure, if we did, Ruud may have left sooner or maybe no Saha? What about Giggs?

.....................RVN.............

Ronaldinho.... .Rooney....Ronaldo

............Keane.........Scholes

Feel bad for leaving out Giggs, maybe he would be in if he was called Riggs :D.

Thier peak/breakout seasons may have happened at different times, though still would have been amazing to see us line up as that.

:eek::drool:
 
I'm not criticising, I just don't get how a player who did feck all for the club you support can mean more to you than players that have given everything to utd.... Unless you are Brazilian of course.

It's all well and good to be a United fan, but being a fan of a football club is enhanced a bit by liking football in general. If you like football, how can you not grow to love players like Zidane, Ronaldinho, etc.
 
It's all well and good to be a United fan, but being a fan of a football club is enhanced a bit by liking football in general. If you like football, how can you not grow to love players like Zidane, Ronaldinho, etc.

I completely agree, Zidane is probably the one for me, but I just cannt figure out a fave player being one who has never played for your side, I'm not saying its wrong, I just don't get it :)
 
Strange bump but I've just been watching youtube videos of Ronaldinho. I'm now going to act like a complete dick and state my opinion as fact.
Ronaldinho IS the most talented player to have ever kicked a ball and THE most exciting player to watch, ever.
 
Strange bump but I've just been watching youtube videos of Ronaldinho. I'm now going to act like a complete dick and state my opinion as fact.
Ronaldinho IS the most talented player to have ever kicked a ball and THE most exciting player to watch, ever.


Completely agree with you Don. Not only did he have that rare ability to consistently dominate or change an entire game on his own, but the way in which he did it was simply beautiful. You won't get many youtube compilations which pack in as much talent as they do with Ronaldinho. The things he could/can still do only a few people we have seen can do on such stages at such important times. That goal vs Chelsea at Stamford bridge, how the hell did he manage to pull that off at such an important moment? He is a genius, a true one of a kind player.
 
Strange bump but I've just been watching youtube videos of Ronaldinho. I'm now going to act like a complete dick and state my opinion as fact.
Ronaldinho IS the most talented player to have ever kicked a ball and THE most exciting player to watch, ever.


Hard to argue with that in terms of technical ability.
 
That's the thing, there are players like Messi and Ronaldo, who dominate with athleticism, precision, clinical, almost mechanical consistency. They have the goals and stats to back up their claim as being two of the best players ever, on overall performance. However, as talented as they are, as talented as a lot of the greats were, I can't think of many moments watching a player pull off something so spectacular, in a highly competitive game that makes me just think "There's only one player that would even attempt that, let alone actually pull it off"

Ronaldinho actually came of with breathtaking moments of sheer magic on a weekly basis, when he was on the top of his game. He was scoring and assisting with moves that most players couldn't even pull off in training. He genuinely was a gift to football. There was never a player like him before and I don't ever think there will be one again, not on his level.

I think, in terms of sheer magical football and pure entertainment, combined with amazing success, his reign at the top, no matter how short, has to be the most impressive ever.
 
He was one of the reasons I started following football. Spent hours trying to practice his tricks and flicks with the other kids. Some of those were absolutely ridiculous. Watched all those Joga Bonito videos featuring Cantona. Truly a magician with the ball. Still I wonder sometimes what would have happened if he was even half as determined as Ronaldo is and actually tried to keep up his level. His confidence on his abilities was what made him the best. He had everything in his locker, shooting, passing, dribbling, ball control and feck loads of creativity. He was like a perfect street footballer molded into a professional one with his technique intact.
 
Strange bump but I've just been watching youtube videos of Ronaldinho. I'm now going to act like a complete dick and state my opinion as fact.
Ronaldinho IS the most talented player to have ever kicked a ball and THE most exciting player to watch, ever.

Absolutely spot on
 
He was the reason I was literally watching Barca games whereas I didn't like their team at the time. The guy is the most awesome player, the one I have enjoyed watching the most individually. The guy destroyed the best defenders/ defensive midfielders at their prime (Makelel, Gattuso, Terry, Nesta, Canavarro etc etc ...)

He was one of the reasons I started following football. Spent hours trying to practice his tricks and flicks with the other kids. Some of those were absolutely ridiculous. Watched all those Joga Bonito videos featuring Cantona. Truly a magician with the ball. Still I wonder sometimes what would have happened if he was even half as determined as Ronaldo is and actually tried to keep up his level. His confidence on his abilities was what made him the best. He had everything in his locker, shooting, passing, dribbling, ball control and feck loads of creativity. He was like a perfect street footballer molded into a professional one with his technique intact.

Spot on, it is sad when you think the player he could have been with half of Cristiano's motivation.
 
That's the thing, there are players like Messi and Ronaldo, who dominate with athleticism, precision, clinical, almost mechanical consistency. They have the goals and stats to back up their claim as being two of the best players ever, on overall performance. However, as talented as they are, as talented as a lot of the greats were, I can't think of many moments watching a player pull off something so spectacular, in a highly competitive game that makes me just think "There's only one player that would even attempt that, let alone actually pull it off"

Ronaldinho actually came of with breathtaking moments of sheer magic on a weekly basis, when he was on the top of his game. He was scoring and assisting with moves that most players couldn't even pull off in training. He genuinely was a gift to football. There was never a player like him before and I don't ever think there will be one again, not on his level.

I think, in terms of sheer magical football and pure entertainment, combined with amazing success, his reign at the top, no matter how short, has to be the most impressive ever.


It's Messi's ruthless consistency and sheer volume of goals that masks these moments of utter genius, I think. Surely what you've just said here applies to this goal?



As an entertainer there are only a handful of players that even come close to Ronaldinho in the last 50 years, but I really think this "most talented player ever" thing is overblown. Messi's technique is immaculate. That is what makes him great. It's just the consistency that makes him better than the rest.
 
It's Messi's ruthless consistency and sheer volume of goals that masks these moments of utter genius, I think. Surely what you've just said here applies to this goal?


As an entertainer there are only a handful of players that even come close to Ronaldinho in the last 50 years, but I really think this "most talented player ever" thing is overblown. Messi's technique is immaculate. That is what makes him great. It's just the consistency that makes him better than the rest.


Am not sure the clip you have embedded really showcases the kind of brilliance Ronaldinho oozed. The thing with Ronaldinho is the fact that he did things so effortlessly & also had an air of invincibility when he wanted to, which is difficult to identify even in a player like Messi.
 
I think the thing that always amazed me the most about Ronaldinho was the fact that he could pull of stuff that seemed utterly impossible and you needed a few slow motion views to even see what he actually did. Yet he did it time and time again and with such ease that it was just a joy to watch him play. Unfortunately he faded way to early and seemed to lose his motivation to play at the highest level.
 
As an entertainer there are only a handful of players that even come close to Ronaldinho in the last 50 years, but I really think this "most talented player ever" thing is overblown. Messi's technique is immaculate. That is what makes him great. It's just the consistency that makes him better than the rest.

Am not sure the clip you have embedded really showcases the kind of brilliance Ronaldinho oozed. The thing with Ronaldinho is the fact that he did things so effortlessly & also had an air of invincibility when he wanted to, which is difficult to identify even in a player like Messi.

How easy or hard a player makes something look has no bearing on any measure of talent.

Ronaldinho is/was more entertaining than Messi and probably more talented [Natural aptitude or skill.]
Messi has reached a far greater height IMO due to longevity and consistency, however Ronaldinho for me, is more natural with his skill, hence for me he is the more 'talented' of the two.
 
Am not sure the clip you have embedded really showcases the kind of brilliance Ronaldinho oozed. The thing with Ronaldinho is the fact that he did things so effortlessly & also had an air of invincibility when he wanted to, which is difficult to identify even in a player like Messi.

Surely you have to admit that's at least partly down to nostalgia? We're talking about a player who only had a couple of very good performances in the World Cup in his entire career, a player who failed to turn up for his only CL final...there were games where he seemed unstoppable, sure, but then that's true of an great player.

All that clip was meant to show was that Messi has these "one of a kind" moments. Like this. Or he has these moments of genius:




I obviously agree that Ronaldinho had limitless amounts of flair and a swagger and effortless to his game - much like Cruyff - but that's essentially just saying he has a very appealing style, it's not really about talent. The kind of individualism and spontaneity in that goal against Chelsea is something Messi and countless other great players have never shown and he could take your breath away with a simple touch, but I don't think that alone makes him a more talented player than anyone to play the game. One thing that's always overlooked when talking about Maradona is that he had bags of flair and was a tremendous entertainer himself. I find it hard to believe anyone that's watched him could really say that Ronaldinho was more talented to be honest.
 
That whole Ronaldinho fiasco upsets me no end even to this day. Seeing him at United would have been special.
 
Djalminha had that same kind of flair, swagger and those moments of brilliance. Well before Ronaldinho too, although he was also more inconsistent.

 
That whole Ronaldinho fiasco upsets me no end even to this day. Seeing him at United would have been special.
Absolutely. I was devastated for days when the news came out.

But then I told myself that had we signed Ronaldinho, we might not have gone for Ronaldo at all. Then I cried myself to sleep again.
 
Ronaldinho was the internet and statty eras first true darling, that's why he's loved and remembered so well. Like the first football clips I'd see on a phone/youtube was probably of Ronaldinho. I prefer Rivaldo though, he was first overseas love that I made sure to see if Barca were on in any form against whoever.
 
Brwned, you've just shown a couple of videos of Messi just running past people. They were nothing but standard dribbles. Ronaldinho juggled the ball past people, flicked it over them, turned them inside out twice, nutmegged them and then scored. Comparing Messi's ball skills and flair play to Ronaldinho is nothing short of laughable. They aren't even in the same league.

Yes Messi with his goals and his close control may well be remembered as the best ever, yada, yada, yada...but for entertainment, flair, skill, joga bonito? Heh, he doesn't even come close to Ronaldinho in that respect, couldn't even lace his boots.
 
Brwned, you've just shown a couple of videos of Messi just running past people. They were nothing but standard dribbles. Ronaldinho juggled the ball past people, flicked it over them, turned them inside out twice, nutmegged them and then scored. Comparing Messi's ball skills and flair play to Ronaldinho is nothing short of laughable. They aren't even in the same league.

Yes Messi with his goals and his close control may well be remembered as the best ever, yada, yada, yada...but for entertainment, flair, skill, joga bonito? Heh, he doesn't even come close to Ronaldinho in that respect, couldn't even lace his boots.


:wenger:



How on earth is that a standard dribble?
 
Brwned, seriously? He jinked passed a few people and fell over in the box. Yes his dribbling and close control are excellent, we know this. It still is nothing compared to Ronaldinho. Messi practically does the same thing every time, shift is body to one side then jinks the other way. Yeah, its effective and he's mastered the art of dribbling but, like, meh, do something extraordinary.
 
I did say he's mastered the art of dribbling. What I'm getting at is that it's nowhere near as exciting to watch as it was watching Ronaldinho. For me, Messi is almost mechanical.

What do you mean mastered the art? It was his biggest asset as a youngster, he's mastered nothing because he's just naturally an amazing dribbler.
 
I don't get what you are saying. It's a big compliment to say someone has mastered the art of something. He has honed an already excellent dribbling technique to something that is near perfect. Almost mechanical. Its just not something that excites me as much as watching some of the other greats, is all.
 
Brwned, seriously? He jinked passed a few people and fell over in the box. Yes his dribbling and close control are excellent, we know this. It still is nothing compared to Ronaldinho. Messi practically does the same thing every time, shift is body to one side then jinks the other way. Yeah, its effective and he's mastered the art of dribbling but, like, meh, do something extraordinary.


I feel like I'm missing some sort of joke here. He brought the ball under control with a velvety touch, flicked it over the man's head, turned the next man inside-out with a couple of razor-sharp touches, but the next man on his arse and then was going to score one of the best goals ever seen - quite possibly better than any Ronaldinho scored - before he was fouled at the last second.

You've described Ronaldinho as a near-mythical footballer and he's not even retired yet for christ's sake.