I Am Jose

The Grêmio club is located in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This name always irked José a bit, mainly because it reminded him of that terribly annoying "Grande..."

It seemed like this guy wasn't planning to let go of the club's shares anytime soon. José wondered what kind of tricks he had used to persuade Pep. The two of them had pooled together $5.25 million in cash to inject into the club's account, and with José's own contribution of $9.75 million, Mallorca's account now held more than $18 million in cash. After setting aside some for daily club expenses, José planned to use the rest of the money.

"Maybe these two think they'll still get a good cut of the dividends in the future... Fat chance," José thought to himself smugly. The little irritation he had felt earlier faded away as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

During this trip abroad, José had been acting as the technical director of Mallorca Football Club when talking to people. Although Mallorca wasn't a famous club, its identity as a La Liga team and their recent victory in the UEFA Cup still managed to impress some people.

For South American clubs, they were still at the stage where they were selling their young talents to European teams. This wasn't like the future when players like Neymar and Lucas would be tightly held onto by Brazilian clubs, and you'd need tens of millions just to get them to even consider a transfer. Back in this era, young talents from Brazil and Argentina typically didn't command high transfer fees, and their first European stops were often mid-tier teams or outside of the top five leagues. For instance, Ronaldo started at PSV Eindhoven before moving on to Barcelona and Inter Milan.

Rivaldo started in Brazil with Deportivo La Coruña, Bebeto did the same, and Romário went to the Netherlands first. Players like López, Crespo, Batistuta, and Verón from Argentina also didn't start with top-tier teams. It was likely due to Maradona's disappointing first spell at Barcelona, which influenced South American players' attitudes toward European moves. Most would start with mid-tier teams or leagues outside of the top five and only make the jump to top clubs later, a decision that turned out to be a wise one. Players who followed this pattern were rarely unsuccessful.

This situation also affected Ronaldinho. Under the advice of his brother and agent, he thought it best to first join a mid-tier team in one of the top leagues or a strong team in another European league for a year or two to adapt. He was particularly drawn to Spain and France, as Spain valued attacking football, and France had a tradition of Latin football, environments in which he'd fit better.

While the Netherlands and Portugal were good options too, they weren't as appealing as Spain and France.

What puzzled Ronaldinho, however, was the fact that despite his impressive performances over the past two years, including winning the U-17 World Cup, the 1999 Copa América, the Golden Boot at the Confederations Cup, and being the top scorer in the South American Olympic qualifiers, no one seemed interested in signing him. Europe was spending money like crazy, but mostly on already established stars, while new South American talents were largely overlooked.

This made sense, of course. With the huge profits from the Champions League, few elite clubs were willing to gamble on unknowns. They preferred proven players who could contribute immediately, and back then, the South American new stars just didn't fit the bill. Mid-tier European clubs couldn't afford to splash large amounts of money, so their primary focus was on domestic players who had proven themselves. This left Ronaldinho, considered by many in Brazil to be Ronaldo's heir, with no takers in Europe.

For José, this was, of course, a positive thing.