Hopeful Ronaldinho eager to dump retirement to play for Gimnasia

Former Barcelona star Ronaldinho is considering coming out of retirement to play under Diego Maradona at Gimnasiay Esgrima La Plata.

The Argentine version of Marca cites reports from El Día that Maradona is keen to include him in his squad while he has reportedly been told by the Brazilian that he is open to the move.

Ronaldinho, now aged 40, has not played professionally since 2015 when he was at Brazilian club Fluminense, so a move to the top-flight of Argentina may seem outlandish.

The main stumbling block for such an eye-catching move is the fact that Ronaldinho is still being detained in Paraguay following his arrest in the South American nation in March.

Ronaldinho has been under house arrest in the Paraguayan capital Asunción, in the Hotel Palmaroga, with the coronavirus pandemic slowing the process down.

The former Brazil international and his brother Roberto de Assis, who is also his business manager, were jailed on 5 March for using fake passports, as reported by Marca.

33 days later, it was confirmed that, following the $1.6m bail money being deposited, the pair left the jail and are now both under house arrest in a hotel in Asuncion the capital of Paraguay.

“I never imagined that something like this could happen to me, it was a big blow,” said the former Barça player, as cited by Marca. “I came to Paraguay to launch an online casino and a book. Everything we do is under the contracts that are managed by my brother.

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“We were absolutely surprised to learn that the documents we had were not legal. From that moment on, our intention was always to collaborate with the courts to clarify the facts

“I always have my faith, I always pray for things to go well and hopefully soon all this will come to an end.