Football's premier partyboy Ronaldinho has chosen Milan over Manchester. On the surface it seems the glamorous and obvious choice - and to a large extent it probably is. But it is also a reassuring and re-affirming choice.

He has renounced his right to 15% of the fee, will earn less wages and Barcelona, to their credit (or more accurately their debt), have accepted an offer £8 million less than that of Manchester City's. The acceptance of AC Milan's offer must have owed much to Ronaldinho's insistence on not going to Manchester (for the second time in his career). Hard core cash was not the primary motivation - it seems.

Of course the sums being talked about are ridiculous anyway. But given the current climate, I half expected the Brazilian World Cup winner to wind down his career - at the age of 28 - attempting to import samba to the north, making guest appearances at Rio Ferdinand's Christmas bashes, and setting up a Copacabana night club in the city centre. And the occasional visit to the City of Manchester stadium for treatment on his terminal migraines. Basically doing everything except playing.

But this move shows a semblence of desire and passion to return to the highest summits of the game. It shows a willingness to subject himself to the rigor and scrutiny of the world press, a demanding boss and expectant fans. He will have to perform in Milan - on the pitch. He wants to recue his reputation and tussle with the big boys again. A footballer making a choice on football grounds. Not a big ask of any professional but at least it shows they live one planet closer to earth.

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CRICKET have always been towards the studios, patient and even intellectual end of the sports spectrum. But when the cash man cometh they are as crazy as the rest of us. I am struggling, like most i think (the players, administrators and officials included), to understand all these policies, proposals, ideas and inuendo that are flooding into the game. Like global warming no one seems to know what will happen, when and which governing body can make the most money out of it? There seems to be no long term vision or sensible planning, just a mad gold rush. There is no doubt that with these opportunities come with pitfalls and it will be a testing time for test cricket. Let's hope five years down the line we are not cheering for home runs or rounders.

NEW ZEALAND'S rehabilitation begins: England's trauma continues. Despite a competitive opening quarter England were sliced and diced by the brutal All Blacks led by the mercurial Dan Carter. It was a merciless initiation to the the rugby caldron of Auckland. In such situations international futures are decided. Some walking away wounded to fight on, others strapped to the life support machine and refibrillators charged. As he was against Argentina at Twickenham two years ago, Charlie Hodgson was halled off like a scolded schoolboy before the 50 minute mark. It apppeared then that time was up for the gifted but fragile fly half, but injuries sent a reprieve in the post. Even a plague declared on all other English fly halfs may not be enough now. He was the sole white shirt to be left grappling with night air, as England's tackling was atrocious, and others will be dented by the occassion. There were chinks of light principally created by Ojo and Rees, who took their chance with gutsy resolve. But with a game to go and a team - particularly the midfield - in tatters there could have more casualties.                                                                                  

A FEW nights ago England beat Croatia in Euro 2004 on ESPN Classic – so much, and yet so little, has changed since then. The personalities are almost identical, the image irreconcilable. There was a freshness, excitement and anticipation surrounding the team. Granted they were in a major tournament but it was a team in its infancy, a team of unforeseeable potential, and a team to show off to the world. In Sven we trust was the mantra; Roonaldo was the chant. With heart stopping energy and guaranteed spontaneity, the raw 18-year-old Wayne Rooney personified the team, and so the faith festered. But it was all in the mind’s eye.

Four years on and it’s a tainted band of capped internationals, dulled by defeat and sullied by failure. What a good player Rooney has become, but the legendry status we assumed a formality is not guaranteed and the succession is precarious. In those early days he traded on physicality, allied to an accomplished skill level, to defy his tender years and enhance his precocious reputation. Now something extra is needed to hit the Messi and Ronaldo heights, and similarly England need something extra. The aura of potential greatness has slipped by. Hope has sprung a leak. Still Capello seems the right man to introduce a steel-capped dose of realism.

DESPITE its obvious appeals, tennis is often a tedious sport to watch but Andy Murray renders it indigestible. My timing must be poor because each time I see his matches one thing strikes me: 11th best in the world, how? But more infuriating than his consistent errors, perplexing shot selection and mental frailties is his ugly and uninterested demeanour. The hunched shoulders, the scuffing trainers, and the muttering grumbles – protestation requires passion – are all so sapping and tiresome. Sports fans are all failed sports stars, and when the privileged few appear apathetic to their fortune, lethargic in the face of opportunity and fail even to raise a smile to their circumstances, it is hard to find the enthusiasm. More unjust criticism for the maligned Murray? Or is our summer sports(recreational) culture too soft?

IT takes a brave man to steal Lawrence Dallaglio’s thunder. But in the retiring international’s own ball-breaking style, young back row colleague’s James Haskell and Tom Rees did just that as Wasps won the Guiness Premiership yesterday. In the first half particularly, the two snarling flankers blitzed Leicester’s lumbering back row as though they had been caged and starved for months. The most complimentary aspect of Dallaglio’s legacy is surely fearsome predatory instincts of his protégés, who guarantee a healthy future for Wasps and England.

'But it is against the law', they say. European legislation has long been the trump card to the perennial debate over limiting foreign players. A Fifa congress will convene later this week to discuss quotas as Sepp Blatter, like a desperate exiting premier, attempts to secure his legacy. Forget right or wrong - could it actually happen?

Consensus states that the law is clear cut and impermeable. But it is anything but introvertable, and there could their be leaks in the legislative wall. There are concessions already. Football as with most sports is based on an alien concept to the rest of the working world - the transfer system. Players are bought and sold on the market as commodities rather than employees, and only at the end of a contract or in its final few years can a 'move' be guaranteed. This is an exception to the laws on freedom of movement guaranteed under the Maastricht Treaty.

The transfer window, which states that players can only move between clubs at a certain stage of the season, further exaggerates these discrepancies between European ideals and football's reality. In Scotland teams are required to have a designated number of young Scottish players in their match day squads - so that would be a quota system then (deciding who should be employed based on nationality rather than ability).

Whatsmore these exceptions are recognised in law. The latest EU constitution -  the treaty of Belgium signed in December - guarantees for the first time the unique nature of sport, the 'specificity of sport', allowing exceptions in certain circumstances. But it is a map rather than a trodden path. These exceptions exist because they have no objectors, they are tolerated and yet to be thrown to the court house wolves.

But quotas in the domestic leagues is another matter. This time the Premier league, the clubs and the owners will stamp their feet and hire the most obscene lawyers to ensure their pursuit of global domination is not compromised by second rate nationals imposed upon them. This issue is no skirmish, it is the war they will not lose.

But as a Fifa official has suggested, along with compromising there are other avenues to be explored. They could also contest the bureaucrats of Brussels over European competition laws and create alliances with sports like basketball (who also rebel).

But as ever the fate of things lies delicately in the hands of the lawyers.

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