Ronaldo: "I was ready to quit"

Ronaldo says he almost quit football after his three years of injury problems.

"I have thought about throwing in the towel many times, that I didn't want to return. But being away from the game would be very hard."

"I also know that when I stop playing, in 10 or 15 years, it will also be very tough," said the Internazionale star who is back in training with the Milan club preparing for next season.

The 25 year old former PSV and Barcelona striker has played just eight games for Inter in the past two years.

Ronaldo has an open invitation from Brazil coach Luis Felipe Scolari to join their faltering World Cup campaign next month against Paraguay.

The striker is ahead of his fitness schedule as he recovers from knee surgery but Scolari's offer may come too soon.

Ronaldo visited the Brazil camp before their 1-0 defeat in Uruguay heaped further gloom on their World Cup prospects under coach Scolari.

Ronaldo collapsed in the Coppa Italia final against SS Lazio in April 2000 when he tried to run and turn and went to Paris for his second major knee surgery in a year.

The Brazilian has been training in Milan for the past month as he tries to get back to fitness.

There have been conflicting rumours from Appiano Gentile. One set of whispers has the Brazilian ready to play again soon after making excellent progress in recovering while a second group maintains he will never be the same player he was in 1997 when Inter paid out £19 million to sign the greatest star in the world game at that point.

A magnetic resonance test at the Clinique des Lillas found strong tendons and no damage after the training sessions the 24 year old has been going through at the club's Alpine retreat.

A holiday followed in Brazil as his recovery continued.

Ronaldo was supervised Dr Gerard Saillant who carried out knee surgery last April on the striker's knee. Saillant also operated on Ronaldo when his knee ligaments were torn at the end of November 1999. Inter received a detailed analysis of how well Ronaldo's fitness is progressing and they have recently intensified his training schedule.

A return for Ronaldo will also start to answer the questions about the player's fitness and future and the offer of a recall to the Brazil squad may have come at the right time.

Whether the return of Ronaldo after surgery can lighten the mood in the Brazil squad remains to be seen but his come back still faces major problems.

Medical attention may not have overcome structural problems in the player's body and the fact he played many intense professional games in Europe and for the Brazilian national team at such an early age.

Ronaldo has been an international since the age of 17 and has already made 50 appearances for Brazil. He began his European career with PSV Eindhoven before a sensational two year spell at FC Barcelona that saw him hailed as the world's greatest player. His strike rate at Barcelona was phenomenal as was his speed and physical strength but a move to Inter in 1997 precipitated spells of injury and stress that he has not been able to overcome.

There must now be real doubts about the player's future because although modern surgery has improved a great deal the physical balance of Ronaldo is harder to correct. The structural fault of his large thighs placing too much strain on his knee joints and muscles seems to have caused part of his injury problems.

In Rome Ronaldo went down with nobody near him and the stress of a serious tackle or foul could do irreparable damage to the knee which may be growing weaker with the regular bouts of surgery.

The expectation for Ronaldo to make a big difference to the side on his return to action may cause problems for the Brazilian who is already set to leave the Milan club at the end of his current contract next year.

Brazil host Paraguay on August 15th and need a win with only four games left in a poor qualifying campaign. Brazil were also poor in their matches to qualify for the 1994 finals which they went on to win but four defeats in seven matches so far do not give Scolari much room for error now especially after the defeat by Honduras on Sunday at the Copa America.