It’s amazing how far rep gets you in soccer. Last week, when Ronaldinho played in a Venezuelan exhibition match, he showed that Ronaldo wasn’t the only soccer star who could develop a gut. But instead of shying away from the suddenly available Barca striker, clubs are going out of their way to land the paunchy footballer with the recently repaired knee. Manchester City even went so far as to suggest one of the main reasons they recently signed Brazilian star Jo for $38 million was to help motivate Ronaldinho to train better once he got to Manchester Stadium. It’s kinda like when we literally get a little too big for our britches, we pay $100 for a pair of pants in our desired size to motivate us to work out. In our experience, neither tack works, but maybe when you have a $200,000 a week contract hanging in the balance, it might change things (our guess, it won’t, so just hire someone to take those damn bolinhos from him.)

[Mark] Hughes, the City manager, acknowledged that Ronaldinho, who is surplus to requirements at Barcelona, had lost some of his sparkle over the past 18 months, but suggested that the 28-year-old would rediscover his appetite for football once City’s coaching staff had whipped him into shape.

“You do find at this stage of the season some players aren’t in the peak of fitness,” Hughes said when asked about Ronaldinho’s physical condition. “But let’s make no doubt about it, if he comes to this club, we will get him up to speed because that’s the way we work here. He is an outstanding football player. This part of his career has been frustrating for him.

Of course, it’s not frustrating enough for him to come to the LA Galaxy. Getting a little flustered doesn’t mean you’ll go crazy, right?

Mark Hughes keen to put Ronaldinho in shape for Manchester City [Times Online]
LA Galaxy To Tempt Ronaldinho [Goal.com]
Image [The Spoiler]