Ronaldinho has had football fans everywhere scratching their heads after delivering his customary Christmas message in a personalised Burnley shirt.
Over the course an illustrious career spanning 17 years, Ronaldinho established himself as one of the finest and most popular players of his generation.
In that time, Ronaldinho represented many of the biggest clubs in world football, including Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Barcelona, where he is perhaps best remembered.
The 44-year-old also won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and got his hands on the prestigious Ballon d’Or award three years later, beating the likes of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard to the prize.
But for those of you worried you may have had too many eggnogs and forgotten Ronaldinho’s brief spell with Burnley… fear not, that never happened. The Brazilian never turned out for the Clarets.
However, Ronaldinho’s teenage son, Joao Mendes, left Barcelona’s academy to join the Championship outfit in the summer – which perhaps explains why his old man has been donning the club’s famous claret and blue.
After putting pen to paper on a two-year contract at Turf Moor, Joao Mendes told Burnley’s official website: ‘I feel blessed to be here and I’m excited to take on this opportunity.
‘The project is great and although the weather is different to what I’m used to where I’m from in Brazil, I can tell how passionate the fans are about football here and I really like the town.
‘The other players have been very receptive, speaking to me and making me feel part of the group. Training has been great so far too.
‘I’m a technical and fast player and my main is helping the team win games.’
Having grown up in the shadow of his legendary father, Joao Mendes is keen to carve out his own legacy in football.
Upon his arrival at Burnley, Scott Parker stressed that he did did not want to ‘heap more pressure’ on the youngster.
‘This is a player we see as a development player and a project in that sense,’ the Burnley manager told reporters.
‘I get the excitement around it but I think it would be unfair to heap a huge amount of pressure on a young boy coming here.
‘He knows why he is coming here in terms of development so I wouldn’t want to heap more pressure than that which is already on him.’
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