Friday, August 17, 2012

Ronaldinho set to sign with Atletico Mineiro

SAO PAULO: Ronaldinho looks set to sign with
Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro less than a week
after leaving Flamengo and suing his former team
for unpaid wages.
Television images on Monday showed
Ronaldinho practicing with Atletico players in the
city of Belo Horizonte, and the press officer for
the 1971 Brazilian champion said the player is
going to be officially introduced after the training
session.
Details of the contract to be signed with Atletico
were not immediately released.
Atletico Mineiro is a traditional club in Brazil but
has not won any significant titles since the 1997
Conmebol Cup, a tournament it also won in
1992. It was relegated to Brazil's second division
in 2005 but won the title and returned to the top
flight the following year. It was the national
runner-up in 1999.
Ronaldinho's contract with Flamengo was
terminated by a judge last Thursday after he sued
the Brazilian club for reportedly $20 million in
unpaid wages and other rights.
Ronaldinho had said he wanted some time off to
take care of his sick mother, and most Brazilian
clubs said they did not intend to try to sign the
former two-time FIFA player of the year after his
recent poor performances with Flamengo.
Polls conducted by Brazilian media said most
fans didn't want to see their clubs trying to sign
Ronaldinho.
It was a different scenario when Ronaldinho
announced in 2010 that he was leaving AC Milan
to return to Brazilian football after a decade
thriving in European football, especially at
Barcelona.
The fight for the former Brazil star involved many
clubs and lasted several weeks until he
announced he was joining Flamengo to begin the
2011 season, in part because of the club's huge
fan base.
But after helping the club win that year's Rio de
Janeiro state championship and reach a berth in
the Copa Libertadores, Ronaldinho struggled with
a series of poor performances amid
controversies off the field.
Two months ago, Flamengo's biggest fan group
published a letter on its website criticizing
Ronaldinho and accusing him of being
unprofessional for his alleged appearances at
parties and nightclubs.
He had a confrontation with coach Vanderlei
Luxemburgo, forcing club directors to fire the
former Brazil and Real Madrid coach, and
recently he also seemed to be at odds with
current Flamengo coach Joel Santana, who used
to lead South Africa.
The club admitted it was having difficulties paying
for Ronaldinho's salary after ending its
partnership with sports marketing group Traffic,
which had paid most of his reported $700,000
monthly wages.
Flamengo had said it was surprised by
Ronaldinho's decision to leave and promised to
legally fight it.
Ronaldinho helped Brazil win the 2002 World
Cup in South Korea and Japan and was in the
team that was eliminated by France in the 2006
quarterfinals in Germany. He was not picked for
the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

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