With all the players playing leap frog this last transfer window, AC Milan was happy to keep Brazilian midfielder Ronaldinho in the center of the pitch. The Brazilian surely misses his old national teammate, Kaka, helping out in the middle, but the star player has expressed many times his excitement for this increased opportunity to lead the team.
But recently the rumor mill has been flooding and Ronaldinho has been getting less minutes on the pitch then usual for new coach Leonardo’s squad. Many critics whisper that Ronaldinho has lost a step and is finished.
I believe this assessment to be way too harsh.
So maybe Ronaldinho has lost a step who hasn’t by the time their twenty-nine years old. But to me that’s the funniest part about this…
He’s twenty-nine years old and he is supposedly washed up? At twenty-nine most people are just beginning their careers these days and because Ronaldinho can’t play for Brazil’s national team on a consistent basis then he is done?
A regular professional footballers chances of playing for Brazil is about as good as Martin Short’s chances of playing for the Harlem Globe Trotters. The man still has a little bit left in the tank and the star player decided to bury some rumors that he was hanging up the cleats at the end of the year with this statement:
I have never considered the possibility of retiring from football. The source of my happiness has always been to play football. I am happy at Milan and I will remain here until the end of my contract.
Ronaldinho’s contract with AC Milan ends following the 2011 season and who knows after that maybe he will be done.
Or maybe he will join Thierry Henry in the MLS.
