2008 Robinho
Real Madrid to
Manchester CityJorge Valdano, the former Real Madrid coach,
“and when your heart replaces your head you
think out of your arse.” Madrid president Ramon
Calderon said: “Robinho was literally crying. He
had psychological problems; we had to let him go.”
Robinho denied shedding any tears but there
is little doubt that he was unhappy at Madrid.
This, after all, is the player who spent most of
last season leaving out of a back window at
the club’s Valdebebas training complex in
order to avoid the press and fans.
Robinho was not the central figure he wanted
to be at Madrid. He was usually played on the left
and rarely given the freedom on which he thrives.
He also felt isolated and alone off the pitch, let
down by the club. When sporting director Predrag
Mijatovic claimed that the dressing room smelled
of alcohol before morning training, the fingers
pointed his way. The Brazilian thought he had
been an easy target, a convenient scapegoat
thrown to the lions.
He felt unprotected and poorly paid. “The New
Pele” earned less than12 of the squad; he asked
for a contract renewal but was ignored while others
got theirs. He also knew Madrid wanted to sell him
to fund the prospective Cristiano Ronaldo deal, and
suspected Calderon wanted shot because he had
been signed by presidential predecessor Florentino
Perez. Only when the Ronaldo deal fell through did
Madrid even call Robinho to negotiate. But by then
he had been in contact with new Chelsea boss
Luiz Felipe Scolari and his mind was made up.
Madrid’s smear campaign during the final weeks
of the transfer window made Robinho even more
determined to depart the Spanish capital. Now
he has turned his back on Scolari and run into
the arms of Mark Hughes. The City manager
would be well advised to hold him tight:
Robinho is a player that needs to feel loved.
The case against the Brazilian is that he let
Madrid down, rather than the other way round.
Robinho had arrived as the New Pele and been
dazzlingly brilliant on his debut in Cadiz but never
consistently lived up to his opening night. Not once
has he been among the league’s top ten players
according to one set of weekly ratings, nor has
his average season rating been over six out
of ten inDon Balonmagazine.
He was more a case of the New Denilson than
the New Pele, a byword for expensive failure and
pointless tricks. His trademark stepover – or
bicycle, as the Spanish have it – did not help.
Playing on “nothing” and “swim” being the
same word,nada, the joke described Robinho
as a triathlete becausecorre, bici, y nada–
he ran, he got on his bike and then...nothing.
They had a point but to say Robinho did
nothing is unfair. He is skilful and quick, and
there have been flashes of genius, runs of
sparkling form, and hugely significantcontributions. Arguably, Robinho was the key
player in Madrid’s last two title successes and
the only player that gave them even fleeting hope
the season before. He was superb during the title
run-in in 2006-07, and he was easily Madrid’s
best player – possibly the league’s – during the
club’s fine ten-match run between last September
and December when they put themselves on
course to retain the championship. The question
is, which Robinho have City signed – La Liga’s
best footballer or its worst triathlete?£32.5m
RECORD BREAKERS
Premier League
transfer record
progression£100m
2021 Jack Grealish
Aston Villa to
Manchester City£59.7m
2014AngelDiMaria
Real Madrid to
Manchester United£50m
2011 Fernando Torres
Liverpool to
ChelseaWagner Ribeiro phoned Robinho. “Itold
himthenthathewasaChelseaplayer,”
he admitted. “We started celebrating”
THE PREM ERA 81£89m
2016 Paul Pogba
Juventus to
Manchester United