Former Barcelona midfielder Ronaldinho has revealed that he recommended Frank Lampard to his former boss Frank Rijkaard. It was the Dutchman who brought Ronaldinho to the Camp Nou in 2006.
The Brazilian went on to dominate world football for a couple of years and he also won the world player of the year award during this period. It was also the time when Ronaldinho came across Lampard when Barcelona played against Chelsea in the Champions League. The England midfielder was a crucial reason behind Chelsea beating the Spanish club on a couple of occasions.
Back then, the England international was revered at Chelsea for his ability to score goals from the midfield. At the peak of his powers, Lampard could score more than 20 goals regularly from the midfield. Ronaldinho says that this ability has been matched by very few midfielders in history and that signing the England international would have helped Barcelona to become an even bigger force in world football.
He also reckons that it would have been impossible for the Catalan club to sign Lampard, who had become a huge figure at Chelsea. Further, convincing Chelsea was also going to be difficult as he was one very important players.
Ronaldinho is currently playing for Mexican club Queretaro and he recently included Lampard in his Champions League XI.”I told Frank Rijkaard that we (Barcelona) should sign him, but he didn’t want to leave Chelsea.I am sure they would not have let him go, at that time he was one of the greats in Europe. His goal record from midfield was what really impressed me,” said Ronaldinho while named his starting line-up, which also included players like John Terry and Claude Makelele from the Chelsea team of 2005. Brazilian Ronaldo and Arsenal star Thierry Henry were also in the list.