The £10m Middlesbrough FC, Ronaldinho transfer situation that still defies belief | OneFootball

Boro launched a shock bid to bring one of world football's biggest stars from the Camp Nou to the Riverside Stadium in December 2007.

Middlesbrough attempted to complete what would have been one of world football's most amazing transfers of all-time with a £10m bid for Barcelona and Brazil superstar Ronaldinho in 2007.

Serving a small industrial port town tucked away in the North East of the country, Boro are a club with a long and proud history, and as the town's 'Infant Hercules' nickname outlines, they've been punching above their weight for many years.

Teesside has been home to some of world football's biggest stars in the past, but the Riverside Stadium has spent many an afternoon in particular rocking to the Samba beat, thanks to a host of Brazilian imports down the years.

Juninho, Emerson, Fabio Rochemback, Doriva; Ronaldinho?

Middlesbrough attempted to prolong Premier League golden years with shock £10m bid for Ronaldinho

Come December 2007, there weren't many bigger stars in world football than Barcelona's Ronaldinho.

The Brazilian attacking midfielder was king of the Camp Nou before eventually handing the crown over to some Argentine player by the name of Lionel Messi. Not a bad heir to the throne for the Catalonian club to have!

'Ronnie' was as box office viewing as they came, with his otherworldly ability with a football seeing him transcend the sport into one of the most recognisable figures on the planet.

So, when news broke in December 2007 that Middlesbrough had submitted a £10m bid for him, the collective football world must have recoiled with laughter, but Boro chairman Steve Gibson wasn't fooling around.

Despite the Teessiders sitting in the relegation zone in the top flight when news of their bid surfaced, and although the likes of Chelsea and AC Milan were known admirers, it was Middlesbrough who at the time had made the only concrete offer to Barça for Ronaldinho.

In the 2005/06 season, Boro reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, the quarter-final of the League Cup, and were beaten by Sevilla in the final of the UEFA Cup (Europa League).

However, a number of their star players such as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Franck Queudrue, Mark Viduka, Yakubu and Doriva would all have left the club by the summer of 2007, as well as manager Steve McClaren, who was replaced by former Middlesbrough captain Gareth Southgate in 2006.

But, unwilling for the glory days to end at the Riverside, Gibson launched a desperate attempt to bring yet another mega star to Teesside.

Middlesbrough's Ronaldinho pursuit failed - but he ended up departing Barcelona soon after

Ronaldinho would stay with Barcelona for the remainder of the 2007/08 season, however, before eventually calling time on his Camp Nou career in the summer of 2008.

Despite concerns surrounding his party lifestyle and resulting fitness and conditioning levels, AC Milan would fork out £14.6m to bring him to the San Siro - that was despite Manchester City tabling a bid worth £25.5m for him.

He would spend two-and-a-half years with AC Milan, before returning to his native Brazil to sign for Flamengo in January 2011.

Ronaldinho would see out the rest of his career in South American football, spending time with Brazilian side Atlético Mineiro and Mexican outfit Queretaro, before finishing his career back in Brazil with Fluminense in 2015.

Middlesbrough fell into a sharp decline following Ronaldinho pursuit

As for Middlesbrough, the Teessiders would fall into a rather sharp decline after their attempted capture of Ronaldinho.

Southgate would continue to receive the backing of Gibson, but after a 13th-placed finish in the Premier League in the 2007/08 season, Boro would endure a disastrous 2008/09 campaign that saw them finish 19th, and thus they were relegated to the Championship.

Did Middlesbrough ever really stand a chance at bringing Ronaldinho to the Riverside? Probably not. After all, he was 27 and in the prime of his career with Barcelona, and so swapping that to sign up for what looked like a relegation battle at the time with Boro, was perhaps a fairly easy decision for him to make.

However, had they managed to pull off a deal for one of the best players to ever lace up a pair of boots, it would forever have gone down as one of the most shocking and amazing transfers in football history.