BARCELONA - Ronaldinho appears a step closer to completing a move to Manchester City after Barcelona president Joan Laporta admitted to receiving an "interesting offer" from the Premier League side.
The English club, who are funded by former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, have been pursuing the fallen Brazilian star for some time now after Barca coach Pep Guardiola revealed the 28-year-old did not feature in his plans for next season.
However, despite making their interest known weeks ago, and despite the fact that Barcelona have not hidden their desire to off-load the player, a deal to take Ronaldinho from the Nou Camp still has not materialised.
But on Monday Laporta revealed Barca were studying two offers for the player, one of which is reported to be a 32million euro offer plus bonuses from City.
The second is believed to be from AC Milan, but Laporta insists that City are now the team in the driving seat.
"Ronaldinho has two interesting proposals, although they (Ronaldinho and his agent) are favouring more the Manchester City offer," Laporta told Catalunya Radio.
His comments, however, seem to go against what the player himself has already publicly announced.
Milan were the first ones to be linked with the Brazilian back in April, and while they too admitted their desire to sign the player, vice president Adriano Galliani revealed that it would be difficult to do so given the Serie A side's finances.
It is believed that Ronaldinho's predicted exit from the Nou Camp has taken so long because Barca would rather sell to the Premier League side, while Ronaldinho has admitted that Milan is a more attractive proposal, despite the fact they are reported to only be offering around 10million euros.
Regardless of which club does manage to capture the former world player of the year, it seems clear Ronaldinho's future does not lie in Catalunya.
He recently said he would go against Barcelona's wishes if they tried to stop him from representing Brazil in this summer's Olympic Games, and on Monday failed to turn up to the first day of Barca's pre-season training.
But despite the fact relations between the two parties seem to have deteriorated, Laporta insists that Ronaldinho should still leave the club with his head held high.
"Ronaldinho should leave the club with honour, because he was a man who gave Barca fans their excitement back, he excited us all," he continued.
"He played a key role in the capture of two league titles, a Champions League and two Spanish Supercopas. We have to remember that."
