Somewhere in Brazil there is a man called Renato who had the chance to own 25% of Ronaldinho. A former player with Germio in the southern city of Porto Alegre, Renato let sum money - about £ 75,000 to his old club, which had fallen on hard times. And when they proved unable to repay him in cash,, they offered him a quarter-share in one of the promising local boys from their under-19 squad. Two were on offer: Ronaldinho or a midfield player called Tinga. Renato made his choice. "I had read some good things about Tinga," he said.
Eight years later, Tinga toils in relative obscurity. Ronaldinho, by contract, went on to become the most coveted and richly rewarded of modern footballers, a World Cup Winner and Fifa's world player of the year for the second time in a row. Anyone who owned 25% of him would have be very rich indeed, since Ronaldinho receives a tax-paid salary of around € 7m (£ 4.8m ) a year from Barcelona.
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From Porto Alegre to Paris
1980: Born in Porto Alegre. His father works in the
shipyards and is an attendant at Gremio while his grandfather runs a local
football team 1989.
Scores 23 goals in a local game to attract the media's
attention for the first time 1997. One of the star players of the tournament as
Brazil wins the Under-17 world championships in Egypt.
1998: Makes his first team debut for Gremio after being
coached by the future Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari in the youth teams.
1999: Picked for the national team for the first time and
makes his debut against Latvia. Scores his first goal for the selecao as Brazil
wins the Copa America.
2000: Moves to Paris Saint-Germain where he has a good first
season.
2002: Wins the World Cup, scoring two goals on the way, but
has a wretched time at PSG.
2004: Wins his first league title in Europe with Barça and
is voted Fifa's player of the year.
2005: Again picks up the Fifa accolade together with the
Ballon d'Or as he starts the journey towards the Liga title and Champions
League final.
