official: Robinho for €42m

The final day of the transfer window didn’t disappoint with suspense. None more surprising that the wild and wholly day at Eastlands, that was preceded with the clubs ownership finally being stabilized after the fugitive sold the club to the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG).

It seemed within minutes, the club was armed with seemingly endless cash reserves and made offers on every major talent left on the market. At one time during the time it was said that Man City had tabled offers for Robinho, Dimitar Berbatov, Mario Gomez and David Villa. A stunning reversal of fortunes and by the end of the day Mark Hughes added Robinho to a talented attacking group.

The numbers involved are astronomical and to be quite honest, this part of the modern game disgusts me. It is very obvious how loyalty and pride in playing for a club is generally linked to electronic wire transfer and off-shore banking instruments. The transfer fee for this transaction is said to be €42m with the twenty-four year-old hearing €6m annually after-tax. A fee so stunning, yet equally so ridiculous.

Upon his signing, Mark Hughes commented:

“I am absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to work with an incredible talent like Robinho. I have said that in order to compete with the best teams in the Premier League, we have to be in the market for players of this calibre, and Robinho is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world.”

The Brazilian combination of Jô, Robinho and Elano has the potential to be one of the more exciting attacking options in the Premier League and with the genius of Martin Petrov, this club will certainly move onwards and upwards. I’m guarded about Robinho as while he has enormous talent, he has shown decidedly bad work habits. The motivation to leave the Football institution of Real Madrid, is a question-mark on his resume to say the least but the about-face from Chelsea makes his motivation loud and clear. Mark Hughes will now have an entirely different concern and one that he has never dealt with in the past and I’m wondering how Robinho will respond or will he need to be coddled. However all that remains to be seen and I’m extremely optimistic of this revamped and rejuvenated squad.

As a final note and one that probably few readers will agree with, I appreciate the development of young players and I’d be remiss if I didn’t note I have an eye towards the international game. The fall-out of this will mean Daniel Sturridge, Ched Evans and Felipe Caicedo’s role will greatly diminish if not disappear. Each of them are extremely promising talents and likely need to consider their Footballing future so they get the playing time they need and deserve.

Category: Team News