Laporta quotes

It's difficult to know how significant Joan Laporta's quotes on Ronaldinho are. But they are certainly on a different level to the material we've been given previously. The story is run by BBC Sport - no need to scratch around for something on TribalFootball anymore.

This piece of news is also different to when reports of a £22 million pound bid were cited today in the papers. That could have been a mechanism to force Milan's hand, however Laporta would have no such intentions.

I would like to think that City are playing a dominant role in the negotiations, that the recent return of Hughes and his staff from the German training camp has sped things up somewhat. But City, despite possessing the required financial clout, seem powerless - the only thing to do is hope that Ronaldinho would rather team up with Ireland than Kaka if it means a bigger payday.

And although many who want the deal to go through will see these quotes as a step in the right direction, a quick resolution is still unlikely and there are a fair amount of boxes yet to be ticked.