Ronaldinho signed for AC Milan last night....

[Shanks]

Manchester City have lost out to Italian side AC Milan in the race to sign Barcelona playmaker Ronaldinho.

"AC Milan and Barcelona have reached an agreement in principle over the transfer of Ronaldinho," the Serie A club said on their website.

"The player will be in Milan on Wednesday to undergo a medical and sign a contract that will keep him at Milan until 30 June 2011."

City had reportedly bid £25.5m for the 28-year-old Brazilian.

But Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport reported on its website that Milan will pay Spanish side Barcelona just £14.6m for his services, with the figure likely to be increased by performance-related bonuses.


Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani has been in Barcelona for talks with the club and the player for two days.

The two-time Fifa World Player of the Year's time at Barcelona effectively came to an end in June when new manager Pep Guardiola announced the playmaker was surplus to requirements.

Nevertheless, the Catalans were not prepared to release Ronaldinho to join Dunga's Brazil squad for next month's Beijing Olympics.


Mancs dreaming again...

[Vermilion]

Yep, had my link ready...poor Citeh. Still can't get my head round...Mark Hughes working for a bloke like that, he will interfere, no doubt.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25694776/

[Shanks]

Yep, had my link ready...poor Citeh.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25694776/

Poor City??

More like the guy wouldn't hack it in the prem.

I reckon the Mancs got off lightly here.

He is nowhere near the player he once was and I doubt he will ever recapture that form by going to Italy.

[Van Halen]

Ronaldinho signed for AC Milan last night....

....so the £200k a week that Man City were offering wasn't tempting enough? AC Milan are not in the Champions League - still more appealing than Citeh!

[dww]

Surely with his vast wealth he was always going to choose on lifestyle/city and Milan was always going to win that. Added to the fact that they have vastly better chances of future CL or league glory than city.

[RedSince1964]

Surely with his vast wealth he was always going to choose on lifestyle/city and Milan was always going to win that. Added to the fact that they have vastly better chances of future CL or league glory than city.

[Pablo]

City were NEVER going to get him, he was always just stringing them along, seeing how much money they would spend trying to woo him, my Citeh mate was very confident they would get him for some strange reason, but it happened exactly as I told him it would. The real shame his he's away with work for a month so I dont get to tell him "I told you so!"