Former Manchester City striker Robinho moved to English football in a £ 32 million deal in the final day of the transfer window 2008.
He was the first major signing by the club’s current Arab owners. It did not take long for Robinho to establish his mark in English football with a goal against Chelsea, who were believed to be the club on the verge of signing him before City pounced upon the Brazilian. Even though the start was extremely good, Robinho’s performances eventually tailed off and he was allowed to leave on a relatively low transfer fee to AC Milan.
Robinho is now back in Brazilian football and is expected to stay there permanently. Once regarded as the next Pele, the 31-year-old has never produced a consistent run of performances to be regarded as the world’s best player. At the time of his move to City, not many Brazilians knew of the Premier League outfit and it was the case with Robinho himself. In his first press conference, he strangely remarked that he was happy to be joining Chelsea. Reflecting on this strange interview, Robinho has admitted for the first time that he did not know about City when he joined the club.
The player was at the club for only 16 months before being flogged off.”I remember that there was big expectation.I knew I was going to play in England but I didn’t know for which team and I was very happy when I found that I had the opportunity to play for Manchester City.It was on the very last minute but with me it has always been like that.It was really important, a team that opened doors for me. It was a big transfer. At that time City didn’t have many big players in their team but it is a club that have a lot of love and respect,” said Robinho.