Ronaldo Nazario was offered contract by European giants that featured bizarre 'no Saturdays' clause
Brazilian great Ronaldo Nazario was once offered a contract by a big European team that included a bizarre 'no Saturdays' clause.
Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima, more commonly known as Ronaldo or R9, is one of the finest players of his generation.
During what was a wonderful career, the striker played for the likes of Cruzerio, PSV, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Corinthians.
The Brazilian lifted multiple trophies and also won the Ballon d'Or in 1997 and 2002.
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Ronaldo never played in England but was actually offered the chance to play in Scotland by Rangers.
R9's former agent, Giovanni Branchini, recalled the Scottish side's offer, which came through in 1997.
As reported by Give Me Sport, he said: "The clause in his contract was a novelty at the time and it scared a lot of clubs off.
"The three who were really interested were Inter, Lazio and Glasgow Rangers, who followed negotiations all the way. The offer from Glasgow Rangers was incredible."
Branchini went on to explain that Rangers had offer to use R9 solely for European matches.
He continued: "They told us he didn't have to play on a Saturday in the Scottish league. They were desperate to win the Champions League and were going to allow him to play in the European matches only.
"But Inter had followed him from when he used to play in Brazil. Barcelona reneged on a new contract and Inter were the first club to meet the release clause, so he went there."
In total, Ronaldo played 518 club matches in his career, scoring 352 goals.
On the international stage, the striker was capped 98 times by Brazil, netting 62 times in the process.
In 2011, Ronaldo decided to call time on his player career after being hampered by multiple injuries.
Marcus Chan