I Am Jose-Chapter 80 - : A Weakened Version of Ronaldinho

The Grêmio club is located in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This name always irked José a bit, mainly because it reminded him of that terribly annoying "Grande..."

It seemed like this guy wasn't planning to let go of the club's shares anytime soon. José wondered what kind of tricks he had used to persuade Pep. The two of them had pooled together $5.25 million in cash to inject into the club's account, and with José's own contribution of $9.75 million, Mallorca's account now held more than $18 million in cash. After setting aside some for daily club expenses, José planned to use the rest of the money.

"Maybe these two think they'll still get a good cut of the dividends in the future... Fat chance," José thought to himself smugly. The little irritation he had felt earlier faded away as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

During this trip abroad, José had been acting as the technical director of Mallorca Football Club when talking to people. Although Mallorca wasn't a famous club, its identity as a La Liga team and their recent victory in the UEFA Cup still managed to impress some people.

For South American clubs, they were still at the stage where they were selling their young talents to European teams. This wasn't like the future when players like Neymar and Lucas would be tightly held onto by Brazilian clubs, and you'd need tens of millions just to get them to even consider a transfer. Back in this era, young talents from Brazil and Argentina typically didn't command high transfer fees, and their first European stops were often mid-tier teams or outside of the top five leagues. For instance, Ronaldo started at PSV Eindhoven before moving on to Barcelona and Inter Milan.

Rivaldo started in Brazil with Deportivo La Coruña, Bebeto did the same, and Romário went to the Netherlands first. Players like López, Crespo, Batistuta, and Verón from Argentina also didn't start with top-tier teams. It was likely due to Maradona's disappointing first spell at Barcelona, which influenced South American players' attitudes toward European moves. Most would start with mid-tier teams or leagues outside of the top five and only make the jump to top clubs later, a decision that turned out to be a wise one. Players who followed this pattern were rarely unsuccessful.

This situation also affected Ronaldinho. Under the advice of his brother and agent, he thought it best to first join a mid-tier team in one of the top leagues or a strong team in another European league for a year or two to adapt. He was particularly drawn to Spain and France, as Spain valued attacking football, and France had a tradition of Latin football, environments in which he'd fit better.

While the Netherlands and Portugal were good options too, they weren't as appealing as Spain and France.

What puzzled Ronaldinho, however, was the fact that despite his impressive performances over the past two years, including winning the U-17 World Cup, the 1999 Copa América, the Golden Boot at the Confederations Cup, and being the top scorer in the South American Olympic qualifiers, no one seemed interested in signing him. Europe was spending money like crazy, but mostly on already established stars, while new South American talents were largely overlooked.

This made sense, of course. With the huge profits from the Champions League, few elite clubs were willing to gamble on unknowns. They preferred proven players who could contribute immediately, and back then, the South American new stars just didn't fit the bill. Mid-tier European clubs couldn't afford to splash large amounts of money, so their primary focus was on domestic players who had proven themselves. This left Ronaldinho, considered by many in Brazil to be Ronaldo's heir, with no takers in Europe.

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For José, this was, of course, a positive thing.

Grêmio, on the other hand, was worried. The economic situation of Brazilian clubs was far from what it would be in the future. In years to come, players like Neymar would earn just as much in Brazil as in Europe, but for now, Brazilian clubs couldn't afford the wages of their European counterparts. Brazilian and Argentine leagues lacked prime-aged superstars; the best players were all in Europe.

Ronaldinho had signed a four-year contract with Grêmio in the summer of 1998, and now, more than two years had passed. He didn't seem to have any intention of renewing. If they didn't sell him now, they might be left watching him leave for free in a year's time. Just look at how Ajax, once a rich club, suddenly became a shadow of its former self because a generation of stars left when their contracts expired.

Grêmio certainly didn't want to let their homegrown talent walk for nothing, even though they hadn't spent much developing him. South American clubs often didn't invest much in their youth systems—there were so many young talents that the best ones would rise to the top. That's why Brazilian clubs often sold their players cheaply to Europe. It was essentially a no-investment business.

The negotiations with Grêmio were entrusted to Tony Silva, who José had brought along. His instructions were clear: try to keep the price under $8 million and ensure it was a lump-sum payment, no installments. José knew that he couldn't match Silva's negotiating skills, so he had to delegate and trust Silva to handle the tough talks.

For the next few days, Silva was haggling with Grêmio, while José enjoyed his time observing the club. Despite the fact that Brazilian clubs couldn't compare to European ones in terms of training facilities and environment, there were still many aspects worth learning from.

Aside from his strolls around the club, José spent a lot of time watching Grêmio's training, particularly focusing on Ronaldinho. However, to his surprise, the "magic" that would define Ronaldinho's future wasn't immediately apparent. Despite his relaxed style, which left a deep impression on José, Ronaldinho's skills in training weren't as outstanding as what José had come to expect from the future European legend.

"He's just a younger version of Ronaldinho," José mused. What José didn't know was that although young Ronaldinho was already very talented, he wasn't yet the dazzling player he would become after his time at Paris Saint-Germain. It was during his years there, under the guidance of Nigerian legend Jay-Jay Okocha, that Ronaldinho's game would grow exponentially.

European clubs had long been focused on developing physically strong African players, often molding them into defensive midfielders, but players like Okocha showed that African players could be just as skillful as any European. This environment played a key role in shaping Ronaldinho's dazzling, technical style of play.

At this point, José realized that the version of Ronaldinho he was seeing now was a "weakened" one—still talented, but not yet refined to the level that would later make him one of the greatest players in the world.

However, José wasn't discouraged. While he was curious as to why this young Ronaldinho wasn't as impressive as the one he remembered, he soon understood that with time, and the right environment, this player had the potential to reach unimaginable heights.

"I don't believe the training environment in La Liga is worse than Ligue 1. And this is an opportunity to test my skills with a player like Ronaldinho. If I can't make him work, then I might as well give up on trying to nurture future stars and just focus on picking up scraps to build my team," José thought to himself.

This was a quick summary of José's observations and reflections on Ronaldinho and his current skill level, which José believed could still be developed into something extraordinary with the right guidance.