Ronaldo claims Barcelona dabble in 'dark arts' during contract negotiations
What’s the story?
Brazilian legend Ronaldo Nazario has finally revealed the reason for leaving Barcelona after just one season. Ronaldo accused the Catalan giants of using “dark arts in their negotiations”, and has said that broken promises led to him leaving the club.
Speaking to Resenha on ESPN, Ronaldo said:
"The experience [in Barcelona] was wonderful, but it was not possible to continue although that was not my fault. I had reached an agreement to renew my contract just a month before that season was over.
"But a week later, Barcelona's lawyer and president agreed that the contract was absurd, so they would accept the offer of any club that would pay my 29 million euro release clause."
He added: "In Barcelona, even today, the club demonstrates these dark arts in their negotiations.They act in a different way, for instance with the 'Neymar case'. I believe we still do not know what happened.”
In case you didn’t know...
In 1996-97, the Brazilian was in top form scoring an incredible 47 goals across all competitions. However, disagreements over a new contract saw Ronaldo being sold to Inter Milan after just one season at the Camp Nou.
Ronaldo later went on to play for Barcelona’s arch rivals Real Madrid where he was part of the galactico project and even guided the All Whites to two La Liga titles.
The heart of the matter
With Lionel Messi yet to sign a new contract with Barcelona, Ronaldo’s comments might make the Blaugrana faithful a bit uncomfortable. Club officials even had a new agreement in place for the Brazilian striker but they went back on their own words which led to Ronaldo leaving the club.
Barcelona fans will be only hoping that the same is not repeated with their talisman Lionel Messi as clubs like Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City are ready to swoop in for the Argentine maestro.
Also read: Paris Saint-Germain director not ruling out signing Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi
What’s next?
The future of Lionel Messi has been subject to intense speculation with a new contract yet to be agreed. Barcelona’s transfer dealings and contact renewals have come under a lot of scrutiny in the recent past and Ronaldo’s comments show that it will not be the first time if the Barcelona board decide to go back on their world and fail to tie down their star man to a new contract.
Sportskeeda’s take
While Ronaldo’s comments are about an issue well in the past, it still does not reflect well on the Barcelona board. The fact that they allowed one of the best players in the history of the game to slip through their fingers because of broken promises will definitely haunt the Blaugrana faithful.