Red Bull denies Ronaldo offer
Afp, Vienna
The Austrian maker of the energy drink Red Bull denied reports on Tuesday that it had offered Brazilian striker Ronaldo a 10-year contract worth 120 million dollars to play for US club Red Bull New York."It is false that there is or was a 10-year offer in the absurd amount of 120 million dollars," the company said in a statement. "There was and is no such offer for Ronaldo. Therefore he cannot have rejected it," Red Bull added. The company said it had been in talks with the Brazilian superstar however, including over a move to the New York team, which Red Bull bought in March. Ronaldo, who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid, said Monday he could envisage playing in the United States in the future but was for the present focused only on his country's defence of the World Cup. His agent Fabiano Farah said however that he had turned down a 120-million-dollar, 10-year deal for Ronaldo to play for Red Bull New York in the US Major League Soccer. Red Bull is also the owner of Salzburg football club, which placed second in the Austrian league table this season and has just signed on former football stars Giovanni Trapattoni and Lothar Matthaeus as manager and trainer respectively. The Austrian club, which hopes to raise its profile and that of the Bundesliga by bringing in some foreign talent, has recently been linked in the press with, among others, Ronaldo's Brazilian teammate Roberto Carlos, Czech international Pavel Nedved and Portuguese international Luis Figo.
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