Talks to resume on Ronaldinho deal

The path for Ronaldinho’s potential transfer to Manchester United could be further smoothed on Friday.

The Brazilian‘s present club Paris St Germain are set to resume training under new coach Vahid Halilhodzic and the first issue that the club must resolve is United’s reported £11m (€16m) offer for the 23-year-old.

The Brazilian World Cup winner, who has just had a disappointing Confederations Cup campaign with his national team, has been hunted by Real Madrid, Barcelona and United for weeks while Newcastle have also reportedly shown interest.

However, Manchester United are marginal favourites and have plenty of money to spend after England captain David Beckham joined Primera Liga champions Real Madrid.

Ronaldinho’s brother and agent Roberto Assis believes that PSG, who had earlier said they would hold onto their star asset, are gradually accepting that he will leave the Parc des Princes this summer.

“Ronaldinho would be happy to play for Manchester United,” said Assis who has been the player‘s guardian since their father died when Ronaldinho was eight.

“Every good player wants to join a team like them and we are happy that they have shown an interest in him,” said Assis.

“We will talk with PSG and I think he will leave. The situation is fairly straightforward now that Brazil are out of the Confederations Cup.

“I expect the talks to last until Friday.”

PSG, meanwhile, are in desperate need of cash even if they insist they want to keep the Brazilian on their books.

The Parisian giants had a poor 2002-03 season, finishing in 11th spot and missing out on a pace in the UEFA Cup after being defeated 2-1 in the French Cup final.

Furthermore, their transfer activity was put under control of French football‘s financial watchdog the DNCG because of the precarious state of club finances.

The DNCG has told them they must offload players before they can recruit.