Barcelona, June 22: Ronaldinho has been persuaded to join Barcelona by the carrot of high wages and being the club's star player, the Catalan press has reported.
Both El Mundo Deportivo and Sport said Ronaldinho had been successfully talked into joining Barcelona from Paris Saint Germain for about 30 million euros (35 million dollars).
The papers pointed out that Sandro Rossel, the right-hand man of Barcelona's recently elected club president Joan Laporta, knew Ronaldinho through his links with Nike who have the player under contract.
Rossel's personally knowing the player, the offer of a good deal, plus the fact Barcelona are supplied by the sports manufacturers all point to them signing the 23-year-old World Cup winner, the papers added.

The Madrid papers AS and Marca meanwhile said Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has a meeting scheduled with PSG officials tomorrow and aims to get first option to buy Ronaldinho for the 2004/05 season with the player staying in France for next season.



But all four newspapers noted that Manchester United had money to spend following their sale of David Beckham to Real Madrid for 25 million euros, plus a further 10 million euros based on performance.



Sport reported United had offered PSG 28 million euros for Ronaldinho on a five-year contract and an annual salary of three million euros.


Bureau Report