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Mexican side Queretaro announce the signing of Ronaldinho

RonaldinhoAtleticoMineiro1-Newell'sOldBoysCopaLib2013 (AP)

By IVES GALARCEP

The Brazilian superstar so many Major League Soccer fans were hoping to one day see playing in MLS has agreed to set up shop just south of the border.

Queretaro has secured the services of Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldinho, announcing the signing on Friday night. The move comes after weeks of speculation about where the former FC Barcelona and AC Milan star would wind up.  Rumors of a potential move to MLS fizzled over the summer, but Ronaldinho has now completed a move to play in Liga MX.

Ronaldinho confirmed the move on his Twitter account, writing the following tweet, which translated from Portuguese said he chose Mexico because of the affection he always received there, and that he is very motivated to represent Queretaro:

Ronaldinho, 34, has been a free agent since leaving Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro in July, and at time it appeared he would be moving on to a bigger club, but after a little more than a month of testing the international waters, Ronaldinho has settled on Queretaro, which is currently in mid-table in Liga MX, with one of the lower-scoring offenses in the league.

When he first became available, I asked the question of whether the New York Red Bulls should sign the Brazilian star, and the consensus among Red Bulls fans was that the team should, but sources tell SBI the Red Bulls were never in discussions with Ronaldinho, and never seriously considered signing him.

It should be noted that Queretaro is the same club that once announced the signing of Brazilian forward and former MLS Golden Boot winner Camilo Sanvezzo only to have it emerge that he was still under contract to the Vancouver Whitecaps. Queteraro eventually bought Sanvezzo from the Whitecaps via transfer. Queretaro also claimed to have signed U.S. Men’s National Team defender DaMarcus Beasley once, only for that announcement to be proven false.

This time around though, it looks as though Queretaro have their hands on a superstar.

What do you think of this development? Disappointed to not see Ronaldinho in MLS? Glad to see him go to Liga MX?

Share your thoughts below?

Comments

  1. Did anyone stop to think that maybe he wanted too much money? MLS teams are at a precarious point with the signings of these big names over the last few years. They don’t want it to become the NASL of old, where big names come here to retire and make WAY too much money, only to have the league be monetarily stacked at a few teams. This proved to be a model that ultimately caused the NASL to be unsuccessful. MLS needs to focus more on its developmental leagues, and acquiring players in their prime. Yes, you need some stars to sell tickets, and yes some of these aging stars can still play at a high level, but MLS needs to continue to work on the development of talent from bottom to top if it is a league that is to become better, and gain international respect.

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  2. I watch both leagues and ofcourse epl, la liga, but I can’t wait for ronaldinho to do some magic in ligamx which he wil. he was supposed to go to club america but querretaro gave more money.

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  3. Well, well well. The cup is over and we wait ’til 2018. It was somewhat interesting here in the run-up to Brazil and a few weeks afterwards. But now, we see what we have and it is not pretty. I ask myself, does anyone here know anything about international soccer.

    I need a break, bis später.

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  4. For the weird MLS fans, who say people who live in the US will not tune in to watch ronaldinho are wacko. All Mexico will be watching, and he will be their Beckham and a large amount of fans will tune in from US.
    Basically Univision deportes network should be rename to ligaMX network since they show pure mexican soccer , oh and by the way, the network Univision is practically own by televisa from Mexico.

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  5. I wonder what he will be paid in Mexico. No one in MLS wanted to pay him the $4 million a year he was asking for. One team offered $2 million per year which he turned down. Hard to believe Queretaro would pay him $4 million.

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    • He won’t make more than 2 million. Probably around 1.5. Nobody In Mexico makes more than 2.5 millions
      It’s not always about money. Sometimes football plays a part.

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      • Hard to say, there was a list released that showed the top ten highest paid players in the Mexican league and the top one made 3 million, the 10nth was 1.7 million I think. Hard to say whether he is being paid a normal amount or Quertero is breaking the bank and using a sponsor to pay him more.

      • Chupete Suazo was the highest paid in the Mexican League few years ago at $3 Million and he still might be the highest today.

        FEMSA are the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in Latin America (includes Brasil).

  6. By the way, the owners from querretaro are super loaded and they are new owners given the other owners did some sort of corruption.
    The richest clubs in ligaMX are( in no particular order)
    Cruz azul own by a cement company
    Chivas own by vergara
    America own by the biggest tv company in Mexico, televisa
    Querretaro own by tv- newspaper -radio company
    Atlas own by second giant tv station tvazteca
    Monterey rayados own by rich university
    Monterrey tigres own by cement giants cemex
    Tijuana own by casino money
    Leon and pachuca, same owners and backed by Carlos slim for certain situations.

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    • Rayados is not owned by a University – beverage company FEMSA
      How does a cement co-op have enough money to own Cruz Azul ?
      Cemex is I think the largest cement company in the world.

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      • Rayados is well supported by the university and they are actually getting a new stadium this year but not truly own by the university but they sure have money to shi!t.
        Monterrey tigres is really rich, with their cemex owner and that’s why the Monterrey derby is the best in Mexico now day.
        Cruz azul is the name of the company and team, like red bull New York in MLS but they do take serious the soccer part.
        As a matter of fact, Cruz azul has their own little village, like a college town.
        Garber thinks his smart by having parity, but once ligaMX get their head out of the gutter, they can sure be a scary league and that’s why they do good in libertadores.

    • Monterrey is owned by FEMSA which is the biggest Coca Cola bottler in the world
      Tigres is the team that has links with the University of Nuevo Leon but it is actually owned by CEMEX

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  7. He was a must in MLS, and it’s so sad MLS couldn’t get him for at least a 1 year. If red bull don’t win MLS cup and had an open DP spot, then someone needs to be fire within the red bull organization.
    MLS needed ronaldinho in order to capture the casual fan and World Cup fever but I guess MLS is going to wait for messi or Christiano 🙂
    The saddest part is that the whole world will be tuning to ligaMX to see how ronaldinho is doing, and specially here in the US, people will watch ronaldinho games.
    Now what, now MLS fans will make money for ligaMX and querretaro by tuning into ligaMX games, not good.

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    • 1. It’s not the Red Bulls job to sign every player available
      2. Why would need Ronaldinho to capture World Cup fever? He wasn’t even a participant.
      3. The WHOLE WORLD will tune into LigaMX to watch a washed up Brazilian star who couldn’t crack Brazil’s worst ever squad? MLS fans are going to give LigaMX money because of this?

      I mean really…c’mon dude. Stop the insanity.

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    • Anyone that knows anything hasn’t cared about Ronaldinho in years. In addition, everyone in the know is well aware that had Ronaldinho come to MLS he would have been clubbing in whatever town he ended up in not helping anyone.

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  8. We’ll he should be ok in Mexico. He doesn’t have to run as they walk with the ball a lot in Mexico, they don’t really defend and they have plenty of quality forwards to finish.

    I guess he didn’t want to come to MLS and get constantly hacked.

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      • Yea theres not a city with thats the third largest city that hasnt had a real DP in years, doesnt have one now and couldnt even overpay for Jermaine Jones…of course that city that doesnt exist also doesnt have cartel dinero

      • Cartel dinero? Mike R. You seem to have everything figured out on these Mexican Clubs. Please, tell us more? You should look around your league for fifty money my friend. Queretaro is not one of this clubs.

  9. Beyond disappointed that no MLS team (especially my team, Red Bulls) signed him. Even if he played like doodoo he would still be a huge attraction for the league and any fan base. They completely screwed the pooch on this one. I don’t know what they were thinking.

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  10. Would loved to have seen him retire in the premier league.. Maybe we will find out his motives for returning to Brazil and these decisions in a bio/doco

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    • I’d love to see him in CCL taking on Orlando city. I know I know, everyone and their grandmother knows CCL suck, but how else will Kaka and Ronaldinho go at it?

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