Brazilian star passes the Barcelona test

The 23-year-old Brazilian signed a five-year contract yesterday after Barcelona reached agreement with Paris Saint-Germain to pay a Euro 25 million ($28 million) transfer fee and up to another million ($5.6 million) depending on the team’s performance.

The signing ends a bidding war between Barcelona, Manchester United and Real Madrid, and gives the struggling Catalan team the kind of high-profile player that president Joan Laporta promised when he campaigned for his new job.

Laporta had tried to land David Beckham, but the Manchester United star ultimately signed with Real Madrid. Ronaldinho, whose real name is Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, becomes the latest in a list of illustrious Brazilians to play at Barcelona — Romario, Ronaldo and Rivaldo. The deal is the latest in a series of summer acquisitions designed to rescue a team that flirted with relegation last season.

Laporta also signed Turkish goalkeeper Rustu Recber, Mexico’s Rafael Marquez and Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma. “Everything worked out fine,” Barcelona vice-president Sandro Rosell said. “It’s all settled. Without a doubt this is Barcelona’s ‘crack’ of the year,” said Rosell, using the Spanish soccer world’s term for a glitzy superstar. He said no players will be transferred to PSG as part of the deal. That means Barcelona has five foreigners, one more than the limit. Reports said the team might seek Spanish nationality for Argentina’s Juan Roman Riquelme.

Ronaldinho’s brother and agent Roberto said they had chosen Barcelona for a variety of reasons, including the weather. He said the team had negotiated well with PSG. “I just protected Ronaldinho and let Barcelona do its job,” he said.

PSG president Francis Graille said PSG’s original desire was to hold on to the Brazilian international, but it opted for the transfer “in light of the current state of the market.”