English Premier League 2007/08: Clubs seek Brazilian stars

August 29, 2007

The Premier League's Brazilian numbers could be getting larger as Manchester City and West Ham joined Chelsea in trying to sign a Brazilian superstar.

Yesterday, Chelsea captain John Terry urged Roman Abramovich to buy Ronaldinho from Barcelona, while Manchester City were preparing to out-bid West Ham with a £12m bid for Inter Milan's Adriano.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Roman Abromovich had met twice with Ronaldinho's brother, Roberto de Assis Moreira, and given him a trip on his private jet and hosted him at Lanesborough Hotel in Mayfair, London. Abramovich held the second meeting with Moreira at his Knightsbridge house on Saturday morning and is understood to have put an offer to him that would make Ronaldinho the highest paid player in Europe.

Sven Goran Eriksson, who held talks with Adriano's representatives on Tuesday, is aware the player does not want to go on loan and City are trying to stretch their budget to give Adriano wages of around £70,000 a week.

Adriano said: "I don't want to go out on loan again. I've already been at Parma, and at that time it was right for my career but now I really must leave for good and that's that."

A statement by West Ham said: "We are investigating the possibility of a loan deal at this stage."

Adriano has slipped down the pecking order at Inter and fellow Serie A side Lazio would take him depending on his attitude.