Sunday, October 5, 2008

Robinho didn't fancy City move - claim

Robinho wanted to reject a move to Manchester City as he wanted to move to Chelsea, according to the player's former agent. However, Real Madrid's "pride" ensure they would not deal with Chelsea as the transfer window deadline approached.

According to Setanta.com, Wagner Ribeiro had expected to fly to London on deadline day in order to secure a move to Stamford Bridge for Robinho. But the staggering goings-on at Manchester City, who suddenly became the richest club in the world, changed the situation and Chelsea's bid was trumped.

Ribeiro said: "'If you are going to sell cakes in the market, we have a better offer from Manchester City' he (Real's sporting director Predrag Mijatovic) said. I told him that Robinho will reject it but they accepted it. I then demanded a salary higher than Chelsea's offer and got 15 percent more. At the last moment, Chelsea offered €42 million but Real did not want to hear of it. Their pride would not allow it."

The claim again shows just how much money Manchester City have to spend. Offering 15 per cent more wages than any other "top" Premier League club would be staggering, but outbidding Chelsea by such an amount is, quite frankly, frightening. And it's not as though Robinho is the only player in the world who would make a less-than dream move in exchange for a big pot of gold.

January should be interesting, and the summer window may be nothing short of ridiculous, as there is no reason to expect Manchester City to do anything other than use their practically limitless resources to win whatever they want to.