The former agent of Ronaldo Nazario has revealed why he took him from Barcelona to Inter Milan in 1997.
Giovanni Branchini also admits a move to Rangers was under consideration at the time.
He recalled to Sky Italia: "There were several days of negotiation, there was also the Barcelona lawyer and the vice president (Joan) Gaspart. The difference they underestimated was the clause, which was decisive instead (4,000 million pesetas). One night we 'kidnapped' Ronaldo from the hotel from Barcelona and we went to the house of Carlo Pallavicino, my partner. We had a meeting in which if Barcelona had presented us with a clean contract we would have signed it.
"There was a risk of not renewing with Barcelona so my partners and I prepared a dossier with clubs like Lazio, Inter and Glasgow (Rangers). We had nothing against the renewal with Barcelona, but we did not want image contracts and complicated situations.
"If you want a TV channel to pay part of the contract, that's fine, as long as you pay us taxes. We didn't want to go down a path that endangered the future of the world's greatest player. He had to get into fights that didn't concern him."
Everything seemed aimed at signing the renewal with Barça, but then it all took a turn. This is how Branchini details it: "One day Barcelona reached an agreement with us, accepting various conditions. We were all happy and I was ready to call (Inter president Massimo) Moratti to tell him that nothing else would be done with Inter.
"We shook hands with the Barcelona coaches, I asked permission to make a phone call and called Moratti telling him that we had found the agreement with Barça.
"There was a press conference where Barcelona announces the agreement, but unfortunately the things we had said did not correspond. At first I thought it was a misunderstanding, then I lost my temper. It seemed to me something that was neither in heaven nor on earth. I looked at the partners and said, 'Gentlemen, we are leaving. Given this insult to our intelligence there is no reason to expose Ronaldo to this humiliation'."
