"I understand the player will receive very substantial offers and I trust he'll understand how highly regarded he is at Barcelona," Laporta told Catalunya Radio. "He is the master of his decisions. If he takes notice of the offers, he will stop being his own master.”

Laporta said Barcelona had no intention of selling Ronaldinho, whose spectacular displays in his first season have cheered Barcelona's long-suffering fans who have not seen their team lift a major trophy for five years.

"The board's wish is to make every effort to keep Ronaldinho. But I'm also aware that it won't be easy because the teams that want him will offer Barcelona a lot of money. This doesn't worry me because we won't sell him," Laporta said.

Laporta said his club hadn't received any bids for Ronaldinho so far although he said he didn't rule out offers from "a Russian oil tycoon" -- an apparent reference to Chelsea's owner Roman Abramovich -- or "an Arab sheik".

Barcelona beat Manchester United and Real Madrid to sign Ronaldinho on a five-year contract from Paris Saint-Germain last July for euro25 million (US$28 million at the time) and up to another euro5 million (US$5.6 million) depending on the Catalan team's future results. Madrid reportedly wanted the Brazilian to remain with the French club for another season before moving to the Santiago Bernabeu this summer.

Laporta, who won Barcelona's presidential election last June, turned his attention to Ronaldinho when he lost out to Madrid in his attempt to sign David Beckham.

On Monday, Laporta told Radio Marca he was pleased with the way things had turned out.

"Beckham is a great player but, with every respect, I'm glad I didn't sign him and got Ronaldinho instead," he said.

The Brazil forward has helped Barcelona mount a 16-game unbeaten streak and led it to third place in the Spanish league, guaranteeing the club a berth in Champions League qualifying. Barcelona is five points behind leader Valencia with four rounds remaining.

Ronaldinho, whose full name is Ronaldo de Assis Moreira, created the winning goal for Xavi Hernandez last Sunday with an impudent lob to earn Barcelona a 2-1 win over archrival Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.