El Fenomeno (The Phenomenon) Ronaldo

"I wanted to continue, but I can't do it any more. I think of an action, but I can't do it the way I want to. It's time. It's the body that's hurting me”

 Those were the words which saw the retirement of one of the greatest football players of all time. Ronaldo Luiz Nazario de Lima, commonly known as Ronaldo announced the end to his glittering career at a press conference in Sao Paulo on 14th February 2011.

It all began for him in 1993, when he was signed by Cruzerio and has been to many of the greatest European clubs in the world, starting off at PSV, amassing 42 goals in 46 games. His outstanding performances persuaded FC Barcelona to pay around £10m for the young Brazilian. He did not disappoint, in his only season at the Camp Nou, he scored 34 goals in 37 games and helped Barcelona to the Cup Winner's Cup, the Copa Del Rey and the Spanish Supercup. This also led to Ronaldo becoming the youngest winner of the Fifa World Player of the Year awards, at the age of 20.

Inter Milan were able to take advantage of Ronaldo's contract problems with Barcelona and paid a then world record fee of £19m for the Brazilian. A change of countries did not stop Ronaldo as he carried on his great goalscoring record, which again won him the World Player of the Year award again in 1997 and then for the 3rd time in his career in 2002. He was able to pick up the Ballon D'or award as well in 1997. But knee problems hampered Ronaldo's career and whilst making a comeback from his first knee surgery, Ronaldo broke down after 7 minutes and needed further surgery. Even though injuury limited the number of games he was able to play for Inter his goalscoring record was still phenomenal, with 49 goals in 68 games.

After Ronaldo's great form in the 2002 World Cup, Real Madrid paid around £35m to secure his services. A firve year spell with the Spanish giants saw Ronaldo score over 80 goals and secured the Spanish title in the 02/03 and 06/07 seasons as well as the Intercontinental Cup and the Spanish Supercup once again. A standout moment in Ronaldo's Real Madrid career was his superb performance against Manchester United in the Champions League with a stunning hattrick which led to the United fans to stand on their feet applauding as he was substituted off.

Ronaldo's last European club would be AC Milan with which he joined in 2007. With concerning weight problems, Ronaldo did not seem to be the player that he was. He managed 9 goals in 20 games and with another career threatening knee injury, AC Milan decided not to renew his contract.

With no club, Ronaldo decided that he would want to end his career in his native country Brazil and joined Corinthians, the rivals of his boyhood club Flamengo. His 18 goals helped Flamengo to a Brazilian Cup and a spot in the Copa Libertadores. After Flamengo were knocked out of the 2011, Ronaldo knew that his dream of winning the Copa Liberatdores would not come to fruition and with his many injuries meant that he had to call time on his career.

As glittering as his club career was, his international record was what made Ronaldo the special player he was. With a goalscoring record of 62 goals in 97 games, this goalscoring feat was only bested by Pele who had 77 goals. He was an unused squad member in the 1994 World Cup, but was able to stamp his authority in the tournament 4 years later with an inspiring performance scoring four goals and providing three assists. Controversy surrounded the final with many baffled with Ronaldo's underpar performance. Many believed that he was not fit, and suffered an epileptic seizure the nighe before. with just over an hour before the match, Ronaldo was reinstated back into the team.

Keen to putting things right in 2002, Ronaldo along with the two other R's (Ronaldinho and Rivaldo) lit up the World Cup in South Korea and Japan and stole the show with many majestic performances, capped off with two goals in the final. He won the Golden boot with a superb eight goals throughout the tournament scoring against every single opposition with the exception of England in the quarter final. The eight goals helped Ronaldo tie with Pele with 12 goals in World Cups. The record was broken in the 2006 World Cup with Ronaldo getting three more goals and became the all time highest World Cup Finals goalscorer, overtaking Gerd Muller's record of 14. With a record breaking 15 goals, he also became one of few players who have scored two or more goals in three successive World Cups.

With a final goalscoring record of over 400 goals throughout his career, Ronaldo was already considered as one of the greats in football history. His pace,trickery and excellent ability to strike a ball was a joy to watch, and will be known as one of if not the greatest striker of all time.

January Transfer window 2011.

The end of the January transfer window saw 225 million pounds spent by Premier League teams. This figure dwarfed the figure of only 30 million in the same period a year ago. Amongst the highlights of the transfer window was the chaotic final day of the window which saw 3 of the biggest deals completed and 2 transfer records smashed before the 11pm deadline. Liverpool's Fernando Torres moved to Chelsea for a british record £50m, which in turn caused more transfer business, as Liverpool, replaces Torres with Newcastle's Andy Carroll for £35m; which is a transfer fee record for a british player. Liverpool also completed the signing of Luis Suarez from Ajax for £22.8m as a result of the sale of Torres. Other deals which were completed earlier on in the windows were from Man City for Edin Dzeko for £27m, whilst Aston Villa spent £24m on Darren Bent.


Why are clubs spending so much on players half way through the season? I believe that clubs are panic buying, many of the teams who have spent big are teams who have not had the best first half of the season.

Aston Villa, who were lingering just above the relegation zone knew that they needed a striker who would be able to get them goals. Darren Bent fit that profile, with just as many goals as Rooney and Drogba in the Premer League overall. With many questioning whether Bent is worth the 24m that Aston Villa have paid. But Houllier and many Villa fans will argue that if Bent is able to score the goals which keep Villa away from the relegation zone then he would be worth every single penny of the 24m.

Chelsea, while not being anywhere near the bottom of the table, had a great first 3 months but suddenly crumbled and seemingly their chances of retaining the Premier League title disappeared with a poor run of games. The signing of Torres can be seen to be refreshing a seemingly aging team with many stars departing in the summer and leaving the club with a weaker squad. But is Torres really a player that Chelsea need now? With the attacking talents of Drogba, Anelka, Malouda and Kalou, bolstering their attack did not seem to be a priority. Is Torres a "Shevchenko-esque" signing, a signing which has been dealt with by the owner Roman Abramovich, without the approval of the manager or is he someone which will improve the Chelsea team and push them onto to an unlikely title? The signing of David Luiz was a better signing for Chelsea, he is able to provide some backup for the Chelsea centre back position which has been at times, stripped to its bare.

Liverpool's signing of Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez, has come from the sale of Torres to Chelsea. Andy Carroll, who is still only 22 years old, comes to Liverpool with the price tag of £35m and the most expensive British player title. Is Carroll another example of panic buying from clubs? Carroll has had a great first half of the season, with 11 goals. But is he really worth the £35m that Liverpool have paid for him? With only half a seasons experience in the Premier League, he is seen as a player for the long term. Whereas, Suarez has scored plenty of goals in the Dutch League and was one of the players of the World Cup. He is by far the better signing for Liverpool and believe that he will have a big impact on the Premier League when he finds his feet.

With much to play for in the second half of the season, we will have to see whether these signings will be worth the huge amounts of money paid for them and if it will change their respective clubs fortunes.