In the summer of 2003, Manchester United thought they’d signed Ronaldinho from Paris St Germain for £19 million. The Brazilian thought he was going to Old Trafford too and told his World Cup winning teammate Kleberson to do the same.
"Ronaldinho told me he was going to Manchester," Kleberson told me. "He kept saying 'Come to Manchester!' I wanted to go, but I was reluctant because I didn't speak English and United didn't have any Portuguese speakers. But Ronaldinho persuaded me and I went to Manchester."
“Ronaldinho’s brother met us both [Barçalona’s then newly elected officials Sandro Rossell and Joan Laporta) and Manchester United at a hotel,” explains Rossell in the new film Ronaldinho: The Happiest Man in the World. “We were put into two separate rooms and he went from one to the other listening to and comparing offers.”
Barcelona had tried, and failed to sign David Beckham from Manchester United, who were happy to sell him for £25 million. Beckham didn’t want to go but soon decided if he was going anywhere, it would be to Real Madrid.
“The attempt to buy Ronaldinho reflected the fact that United have always sported talismanic players,” explains Sir Alex Ferguson. “I was always hunting for that talent. My line of reasoning was, ‘We’re getting £25 million for Beckham, and we’re getting Ronaldinho for £19 million. For God’s sake, wake up. It was a steal.”
Roberto de Assis Moreira, Ronaldinho’s brother and manager, steered the talks. “I was negotiating with Manchester United, an incredible team that dominated European competitions. And there was Barcelona, a club that was in decline.”
But Laporta, a lawyer and former fan activist, didn’t see it that way. He needed Ronaldinho to “become a symbol of this revolution,” in which he intended to transform the club on and off the pitch.
Ronaldinho was supremely talented, he’d won the World Cup a year earlier after eliminating England en-route to the final in Japan (England’s players think he didn’t intend to shoot for his goal, he denies this and says he was attempting to score), but he was failing at PSG.
“Luis Fernandez was my coach,” he says in the film which charts his life. “He didn’t believe in me.” Fernandez substituted him, he asked him to play more defensively, he didn’t understand Ronaldinho.
Between the two club, Manchester United had more money than the Catalans.
“During negotiations, we reached a point which went out of reach of what Barca could afford,” explains Rossell, who was filmed during the negotiations saying: “What’s our limit? If we make our first offer they’ll ask for more.” Barça’s three wise men in these negotiations were Rossell, Laporta and Ferran Soriano, who has long since been the leading executive at Manchester City. The well-briefed Catalan media reported the deal as off on the evening news, with both parties still in the hotel in Lyon, France.
In the film, the journalist Santi Nia claims that “The president of Catalonia called Rossell and explained that it was necessary for the Catalonia, for the country, that Barcelona sign Ronaldinho.”
Rossell, a Nike executive, called Brazil coach Felipe Scolari, who was close to Ronaldinho. “Felipao,” he said. “I need your help. You have to tell him Barca will be better for his future.”
“Emotionally, he was questioning himself,” said Scolari. “He doubted his ability. He needed people that appreciated him for what he really was. As a friend, I showed him the right path.”
Barça had the contacts who could converse in Ronaldinho’s language, a high level of ask. United had Peter Kenyon, who was about to jump ship for Chelsea. But not before selling Juan Sebastian Veron – to Chelsea – for £15 million. Ronaldinho signed for Barcelona. Ferguson wasn’t happy.
“Ronaldinho might have been (a United player) too,” he said, “had he not said yes, then no, to our offer.” Ronaldinho tells GQ he did speak to Ferguson. “The biggest clubs in the world are always attractive to players. I spoke to a lot of people at that stage, my brother negotiated this. But when Sandro Rossell offered the chance of Barcelona…”
How Barcelona got the extra money isn’t discussed in the film, but Barça have always enjoyed strong credit lines to Catalan banks – and there was no shortage of Catalan banks before the 2008 credit crunch which hit Spain harder than almost any European country.
“They believed in me,” says Ronaldinho, “I was going to be part of a new era at the club.”
“You’ll see, you’ll be very happy here,” a relieved Laporta tells him on screen. “Very, very, happy.” He was not wrong.
Fifty thousand fans came to welcome Ronaldinho at Camp Nou. He wouldn’t have had that at Old Trafford.
“I could never have imagined the reception,” explains the Brazilian. “The club was in a bad moment, not happy, they hadn’t won much but the stadium was full.”
“Romario, Rivaldo, Ronaldo all played at Barça. I always dreamed of following in their footsteps.”
The former Gremio player was set to make his debut when the Spanish federation, which Catalans always suspect favour Madrid, insisted that Barca’s opening home game against Sevilla must be played by a certain date ahead of their international players, including Ronaldinho, reporting for their country.
Barça shifted the game to start at five past midnight, put free food on, had a little help with the metro staying open later. 80,000 turned up to see Luis Enrique fighting after they’d gone behind, then Ronaldinho scoring an incredible equaliser.
“It had to work,” he says of the late kick-off time. “And midnight is my time.” That’s the best line in the film. Ronaldinho speaks in simple, uncomplicated sentences. Asked by GQ about the United links he offers an anodyne: “All the great clubs are great clubs” – but the footage and back story is compelling.
Born into a poor Gaucho family, his mother was a laundry woman with two jobs and his dad took parking money at Gremio’s stadium.
“[Dad] always said the best two things in life are chicken soup and humility,” he says. His older brother made it as a player at Gremio and then moved to Switzerland. His money bought the family a nice home with a pool in a better area. His father, who he idolised, was found in the pool after having a heart attack during a family BBQ. Attempts to keep him alive were hindered by two power cuts at the hospital. Ronaldinho didn’t go to the funeral, he couldn’t understand what was happening, but his brother became his dad – until he moved to Europe.
Ronaldinho played and played and played football. It wasn’t favella stuff because he was no longer in a favella, but indoor football and beach football.
“People would watch me play and smile,” he says of when he was 10. “When I have the ball the world stops.” His beach football team, on the wide strand of Rio Grande do Sul by an always angry Atlantic, went unbeaten for five years. He turned pro with Gremio at 17.
“One minute I was with my friends on a bus talking about buying a new bike, the next I’m in a dressing room with adults talking about things that had nothing to do with my teenage world,” he recalls. He was a revelation for the club who’ve been good enough to be world champions twice.
Brazil gave him a debut at 19, a move to a far from dominant Paris followed, before which he was branded a mercenary by the Brazilian press and abused by Gremio fans.
Then came that move to Barcelona.
“Thiago Motta, another Brazilian, helped me settle at the start,” he says. But the team was unsettled and they continued to struggle, winning one of their first six, dropping to as low at 12th in the league in 2003-04. Fans turned and told club president Laporta that manager Frank Rijkaard should be sacked. Laporta ignored them, even after Barca conceded five at Malaga. Seven fans waited to beat Laporta up and sprayed graffiti outside his house.
Real Madrid came to Camp Nou with all their galacticos and won for the first time in 20 years, leaving the Catalans in 12th place at the halfway point of the season. Ronaldinho was injured, but not for the return leg against Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Figo et al. By that time Barça had started winning games, with the on-loan Edgar Davids making a difference. Madrid went ahead, then Kluivert equalised. Ronaldinho scooped the ball over the Madrid defence. Xavi finished.
“Great memories,” Ronaldinho tells GQ. “After that, a lot changed at the club.” Puyol “a fantastic captain” saw it as a turning point and said Ronaldinho gave Barça their spirit back. Thousands turned up at the airport to welcome them home. Laporta led them out into the terminal. Barça didn’t win the title or any trophy, but they had regained their prestige.
Rijkaard’s notion of a free role for the Brazilian worked. “He understood my way of playing,” he says. “I was free to move around the whole pitch. To create moves that came into my head.”
Barça went 18 matches unbeaten and finished second in the league.
Ronaldinho missed his Brazilian Sundays, when he’d have a BBQ with friends. Sunday was matchday in Spain, so he recreated his Sundays in the days before a game and invited his teammates around to his house by the beach south of Barcelona.
A son, Joao, named after his father, was born to him and his partner, who’d he’d met when she was a dancer on a Brazilian TV show. The football got better and better. Barça won the league in 2005. Lionel Messi boosted the ranks. Messi, who talks in the film, was shy.
“Very, very shy,” he says. “I find it hard to join in. But Roni welcomed me and made me feel calm."
"Roni embraced him, treated him like a son,” confirms Laporta.
The league was won again 2006, when the team also added the European Cup for only the second time, with Ronaldinho and Messi combining on the pitch.
“Barcelona is like the Rio de Janiero of Europe,” he tells GQ. “Barcelona is a city which does not stop. I live night to the fullest, so I adapted very well.”
His life is a permanent party,” says friend Andrea Dimitrou. “Without parties he cannot live. He never wants to be alone.”
Not everyone approved of his lifestyle but when he stepped on the pitch he did what nobody else could do, so he was let alone.
“When I won I wanted to win more and more,” he says after others pour compliments on him. “He even passed the ball with his back, something I’d never seen before,” one says.
Even the Bernabéu applauded him. “I was saying ‘You son of a bitch, do you know what you have just done?’” explained Messi. Unsurprisingly Ronaldinho was the 2005 FIFA World player of the year, the 50th Ballon d’or winner too. “That year was perfect,” he says of 2005-06, when Barcelona beat Arsenal in the Champions League final in Paris. Nearly perfect. Brazil went to the World Cup as favourites with Roberto Carlos, Kaka, Cafu, Adriano and Ronaldo. They were defeated for the first time in eight years in the World Cup finals by France in the quarter-finals.
“I don’t understand how we got knocked out,” he said. Then 2006-7 saw a dip in his form, as well as Barca’s fortunes.
“I saw him sliding down the scales and I could not do anything to help him,” said Rijkaard, who Ronaldinho considers the best coach that he worked under.
Real Madrid won the title on goal difference.
“After the (2006) World Cup Ronnie changed,” said Laporta. “What changed? You’ll have to ask him.”
He doesn’t answer the question.
“I never had any problem at Barcelona,” he says. “I’ve been happy with my whole career.”
“He doesn’t talk about his emotions,” says his sister. “He doesn’t show his feelings. He says everything is fine but if you know him you know he’s not all right.”
“He’s lost the love so he's lost everything,” said his compatriot, Socrates. The partying never stopped, and the media and then the fans turned. Ronaldinho was booed by fans, shirt sales with his name slumped.
“I tried to talk to him as a friend, not as his captain,” explained Puyol. “His life was heading down the wrong path.” It didn’t work. Upset, he partied even more. By then Messi was Barça’s main man, the one who would take over the number 10 shirt. When his teammates went to Manchester for the most important game of the season, he went partying. He was found asleep in the dressing room.
Pep Guardiola was appointed Barca manager and didn’t include him on the list of players for the next season. Even here Ronaldinho denies the reality that Guardiola didn’t think he was committed enough.
“When Guardiola arrived, I explained to him that I had other dreams to play at another club,” he says. “It was a friendly conversation.” Ronaldinho looks like a wounded animal when anything negative is brought up on camera. Barca backed out of offering him a vast new contract. Silvio Berlusconi signed him for AC Milan in 2008, stating that the only thing Italians asked of him was to defeat communism and deliver Ronaldinho.
“I went to his house,” says Laporta of his departure. “Ronaldinho leaving was one of the saddest days of my life. I knew the dream was coming to an end. He took us to the world, he globalised us, he made us champions, a happy and fun club, an icon.”
For two years, Ronaldinho was the best player on the planet, remembered most for the pure, infectious joy and natural ability with which he played. It was a way of being he also carried off the pitch, a deep-rooted need to bring joy to everyone; a complex psychological trait that underpinned the way he played football having learned early on that life is fragile.
“I’m happy for the countries I’ve lived in, the full stadiums, the games, the goals,” he says. He now lives in Rio, he has his Sundays back to BBQ. The rest of us have the memories.
‘The Happiest Man In The World – Ronaldinho’ is available on FIFA+, a world-class digital platform created to connect football fans across the globe more deeply with the game they love, for free.
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