DBasia.news – Alexander Hleb, a former Barcelona player, revealed the reason the club sold Ronaldinho and Deco in 2008. Reportedly, Barca sold them to protect the young Lionel Messi.
“Ronaldinho and Deco often came to drunken training sessions, which is why Ronaldinho and Deco were sold in 2008, the club feared they would have a bad influence on Lionel Messi,” Hleb said as quoted by Goal.
As is known, Barcelona finally sold both of them in 2008. Ronaldinho moved to AC Milan while Deco anchored to Chelsea.
Their move at the time seemed surprising because in the era of Frank Rijkaard, both Ronaldinho and Deco were Barcelona star players. In fact, both of them played an important role in the success of Barca won the Champions League in 2005/06.
Guardiola’s decision to sell the two players did not affect the Blaugrana. Barca successfully dominated La Liga, they could also win the Champions League title on 2008/09, 2010/11 and 2014/15. While Messi became one of the best players in the world to date.