James doing what he can do best
Ronaldo may be fat and slow, but at £4m he's a bargain
Wherever he's played, Ronaldo has always scored goals by the bucketload - and Milan will be no different.
James Richardson
January 30, 2007 11:40 AM
"New scandal rocks Italian healthcare system," announced comedian Gene Gnocchi on Italian TV last Sunday. "Ronaldo passes Milan medical." Yup, as another week brings another Inter win and another headbutt for Marco Materazzi, the big talking point in Serie A is El Gordo's very-nearly finalised return to Italy. It's a deal that is provoking widespread amusement, as Ronaldo is now rumoured to now have the mobility of a jazzed-up George Michael at traffic lights, without, sadly, the potential for scoring from the middle of the park. Still, this correspondent can't help but think it'll be Milan who'll be having the last laugh.
Thirty years old and a three-time Fifa world player of the year, Ronaldo has, with the exception of the last four months, always scored goals in industrial quantities at Real Madrid. Even his 'disappointing' World Cup last summer saw him net three. Despite that, he's set to cost goal-shy Milan an exceedingly trim £4m.
Of course, Ronaldo will be cup-tied and unable to help the
Rossoneri in their European campaign. There are the risks too that his arrival will disturb the balance of the
Milanello locker room, or that he'll go the way of some other recent Milan salvage projects, like last year's blowout Christian Vieri, or Fernando Redondo, who famously signed for Milan from Real Madrid only to suffer a career-ending injury on the very first day of training. However, given that Milan have just lost forward Marco Borriello to a doping suspension, and have only the thus-far disappointing Ricardo Oliveira and Pippo Inzaghi available to partner Alberto Gilardino, Big Ron is still worth a punt and then some.
For a start, he's already brought Milan worldwide publicity - and for a club languishing a humiliating 30 points behind their former stooges Inter, the value of grabbing the limelight shouldn't be underestimated. Milan, it says, will not go quietly into that dark night. And neither will Ronaldo. At a time when he could have been cashing in his CV on football's new frontiers, his return to the city of Milan amid calls of high treason from Inter (the club that nursed him through 2 ½ years of ruptured knees only to then see him do one to Madrid) underlines his desire to prove himself again at the top of the game.
Can he do it? As Sly Stallone so pithily observed in Rocky Balboa: "It ain't over till it's over," and I'd say Ron couldn't have picked many better places for his comeback. Andriy Shevchenko's collapse since leaving Milan underlines what a uniquely fertile club this can be for forwards for, like the Ukrainian in yesteryear, Ronaldo will be in the hands of the best run outfit in the world, offering the off-field fitness finesse of their much-hyped MilanLab programme and the on-field attentions of such midfield talents as Andrea Pirlo and Ricky Kaká (and Rino Gattuso, too!).
Ronaldo's days of scampering 50 yards up
past gob-smacked defenders may be over, but at Milan that won't matter; all he'll be asked to do is stand around and poach to his heart's content. Another of the club's new signings, Italy right-back Massimo Oddo, is good news in this regard, as injuries to Serginho and Cafu and the departure of Jaap Stam have seen service from the wings dry up this season.
Let's face it: unless you're an Inter fan, or French, you're probably rooting for the gap-toothed goalster to rediscover his former glories at Milan. Hopefully Milan and Madrid will now get the whole deal sorted asap. After all, what, short of an incident involving Luciano Moggi and a missing manhole cover, could make a better sporting story for Calcio?
The way the title race is going, meanwhile, it certainly looks like we'll need something to keep us busy till the end of the season. Inter's
2-0 victory over Sampdoria this weekend took their winning streak to 14 games and hammered another nail in the title race, maintaining their
11-point margin over Roma. As a result, Italian bookies SNAI have laughed bravely in the face of Stallone's dictum and announced they'll now pay up on all bets on Inter as champions. "With 17 rounds still to go, this is an unprecedented move!" their press release trumpeted.
They know their business, but here's a thought: next weekend Inter host Roma for a fixture that the
Giallorossi won in spectacular fashion last season. Another away win this time and the gap at the top would shrink down to just eight points, with 16 games to go - and we've all see leaders reeled in from there, haven't we? Kevin and Sven know what I'm talking about. Should Inter win, of course, the
title race won't be running for much longer, a bit like Ronaldo in fact, so whatever happens, it looks like being an especially important column from me next week. See you then.
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