FURIOUS Chelsea have been caught up in a bitter row over an alleged £7million bribe for the transfer of Ronaldinho.

Current Barcelona president Joan Laporta claims rival Sandro Rosell tried to persuade him to share a £7m kick-back Chelsea were allegedly willing to pay if the club sold them the Brazilian superstar in 2004.

Chelsea last night vehemently denied offering any bribe and there is absolutely no evidence to support Laporta's claims.

A Blues spokesman said: "It's total nonsense. We never made such an offer."

Laporta's claims were made in his explosive book A Dream For My Children published in Spain on Monday.

The Barca president alleged on April 25, 2004, his then vice-president Rosell told him Chelsea were offering 100m euros (then £70m) for Ronaldinho.

Laporta writes: "I told him to get it out of his head, that Ronnie was not for sale and I didn't want to talk about it any more but he added: 'Joan, they are giving us a commission of 10 per cent.'

"Sandro kept insisting about the offer of Chelsea pretending he didn't want it to happen.

"He reminded me that if we accepted they were giving us 10m euros to share between us. That attitude made me profoundly indignant."

Ronaldinho, now at AC Milan, was at the peak of his powers back in 2004.

Rosell resigned his post in June 2005 after a bitter fall-out with Laporta, who steps down as president at the end of his second term this June.

Laporta's book is about his seven years in charge of the Catalan giants.

And Rosell is the overwhelming favourite to win the presidential election.

The claims in the book are seen by his supporters as an effort by Laporta to damage Rosell's chances.

But angry Chelsea now inadvertently find themselves dragged into a storm not of their own making.

In a statement last night Rosell insisted he would sue Laporta unless the Barcelona president retracted the allegations made in the book.

He said: "After reading the accusations levelled at me by Mr Laporta in his book, for a supposed commission for the transfer to Chelsea FC of the player Ronaldinho, and analysing the gravity of those, I want to say that it's absolutely false that this offer was made from my part to Mr Laporta.

"The recounting of this episode, for its total and absolute falsehood, constitutes a grave attack on my honour, and for that reason I reserve my right to take judicial action."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport...ibes-storm.html

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The press really don't like us do they?

If what he says is true then wow, seriously we could of bribed them for a bit more for Messi instead of Ronaldinho. But if Laporta is just lieing through his teeth just to get ahead in the Presidental elections then he's a first class jackass and it kinda makes sense since we are an easy target because of our previous allegations. The club should also take action against Laporta in my opinion.

Edited April 2, 201016 yr by Sheva

I don't know how the libel laws work in Spain, but you'd have to be an idiot to publish something so damaging to someone's personal reputation, in this country at least, without being able to back it up with solid evidence. That's not to say we haven't seen examples of unsubstantiated crap being peddled in various 'autobiographies' in this country, but they're usually dealt with in the courts.

Those that do come out with stuff that is clearly slanderous IMO are the result of careful consideration of the potential cost of being sued, and the decision that such a cost is worth the publicity or the lasting damage to the target's reputation. It looks like this is what's happening here. Barcelona and Real Madrid never fail to make me laugh, it's such a bloody circus over there, and the press just love fuelling the fire.

I cant imagine this is true.

But yeh would much rather have made more for Messi

Of course it's true. Barca are the epitome of all good in football and they can't tell a lie.

OR we are the obvious low-hanging fruit to throw a punch at an opponent. I mean, we're Chelsea, dirty money, Russian oligarch, enemies of football, anti-football, Drogba dives, Terry is a cry-baby philanderer,........

I hope the club sues the mf-er for defamation.

Day by day my hatred for Barca grows. "Unicef", "This is the way football is meant to be played", "Beautiful game=Barca", "Only true champions" and so on. Makes me sick in the stomach. I bet if someone didn't love them in the cabinets all kinds of dirt would have been dug out. "FIFA=Barca"!

Somehow I relate Barcelona to catholic priests... Looks too good to be true type of thing..

Day by day my hatred for Barca grows. "Unicef", "This is the way football is meant to be played", "Beautiful game=Barca", "Only true champions" and so on. Makes me sick in the stomach. I bet if someone didn't love them in the cabinets all kinds of dirt would have been dug out. "FIFA=Barca"!

Somehow I relate Barcelona to catholic priests... Looks too good to be true type of thing..

Great post spot on Dirty Catalans !

fc FALSElona = scum

LOL. "A dream for my Children". Laporta acts like he is a paragon of virtue. His claims are just another salvo in the upcoming club election he is running in. Thats all this amounts to, and the club should sue the sh*t out of them for it.

FYI Ronaldinho signed for Barca for 18m pounds, just over 30m euros. You think Barca wouldnt have grabbed FOUR times that amount for the same player? Especially with the way the exchange rates shifted? Makes no sense at all. He looked good in his first season, but Valencia still won the title, and it was only after they took out a loan move for Davids that Barca finally looked like a top team. Their 2003-4 season was almost a disaster.

Day by day my hatred for Barca grows. "Unicef", "This is the way football is meant to be played", "Beautiful game=Barca", "Only true champions" and so on. Makes me sick in the stomach. I bet if someone didn't love them in the cabinets all kinds of dirt would have been dug out. "FIFA=Barca"!

Somehow I relate Barcelona to catholic priests... :lol: Looks too good to be true type of thing..

Totally f**king agree. To hell with them, f**k laporta and the horse he rode in on, and I genuninely hope Arsenal f**king smash them next week. Same with Madrid in the classico.

When the current Cabal running european football are voted out, maybe someone will finally have the courage to point out they are just like every other club, run by the same worms, paying the same ungodly amounts of money

I would LAUGH if Chelsea sued the guy. That'd be priceless!

F*ck Farça!! Bunch of hypocrites prone to accuse others of what they do themselves. òó

I liked how they sold shirts in seattle and plan to have an expansion team in the US and try to convince that they are not in for the money. And I think Messi has an unfair advantage(can anyone clear his case for me?)

fcBarcelona is the dirtiest team that you can imagine, in the city Espanyol fans suffered continuous discrimination by the press.

La Caixa (bank) helps and many more things ... it is a dictatorship !

A commission, how is that exactly a bribe?

fcBarcelona is the dirtiest team that you can imagine, in the city Espanyol fans suffered continuous discrimination by the press.

La Caixa (bank) helps and many more things ... it is a dictatorship !

I really sympathize with you Carles, and all the other La Liga fans out there that dont support one of the "big 2"

How is it fair that, on the balance of their name, these "big" clubs can go to banks and loan for massive amounts with no financial consequences. Man Utd are at least beholden to the rules of normal finance, in that they have to pay down a debt which has a fixed rate of interest. Instead these big spanish clubs seem to be able to get a loan in perpetuity and pay it back whenever because they are too big to go under.

I read an article recently that claimed Madrid and Barca have such a large following between them that anyone else winning the title would be a "disaster" for Spanish football and the sporting press, financially speaking. Seems like while thats the case, nobody is going to try and crack down on it, certainly not from UEFA, even with all their bleating about "fiscal responsibility"

fcBarcelona is the dirtiest team that you can imagine, in the city Espanyol fans suffered continuous discrimination by the press.

La Caixa (bank) helps and many more things ... it is a dictatorship !

Trust I wear my Espanyol jersey proudly haha !