Football Dispatch

Tuesday Football
02 September 2008
by Jerrad Peters

Manchester City got their man and wrote the headlines after signing Robinho to a four-year contract on Monday night. In doing so, they snatched the 24-year-old Brazilian from right under Chelsea’s thumb. Blues manager Luiz Felipe Scolari had made no secret of the fact that he coveted the Real Madrid forward; and with chief executive Peter Kenyon having made a pair of late-week flights to the Spanish capital, the deal looked set to be consumated before the midnight transfer deadline. Instead, City pirated the transaction in the early evening and agreed a 32.4m-pound fee at the eleventh hour.

“Manchester City have made a dramatic late deadline-day swoop for Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Robinho,” read a statement on the club’s official website. “The deal to bring the 24-year-old was completed shortly before the midnight cut-off point, and he has signed a four-year contract”

“I am absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to work with such an incredible talent like Robinho,” said City manager Mark Hughes. “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 his calibre, and Robinho is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world.”

Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon was somewhat less complimentary of a player who helped the Meringues to back-to-back La Liga titles.

“We have sold Robinho for reasons of a human nature and for sporting reasons,” the 57-year-old told Spanish television station Veo. “The fact that he has accepted an offer from Manchester City says that he is not going for Sporting reasons.”

In that, it must be said that Calderon has a point. While Madrid provided Robinho with an opportunity to win titles and Champions’ League crowns, City have never finished higher than eighth after winning promotion to the Premier League in 2002. Terms of the player’s contract have yet to be disclosed; but he is believed to have agreed a weekly wage of approximately 110,000-pounds per-week.

“Schuster thought until yesterday that he could recover the player,” Calderon stated, in reference to Madrid manager Bernd Schuster, “but that has not been the case. Every time I have spoken to him he was very sad, crying and asking to leave Spain. Real Madrid are more important than any one player. He’s a gread kid, but badly advised.”

Indeed, the three months between Madrid’s second consecutive title and last night’s transfer have been more akin to a circus than a summer transfer period or pre-season training. Having been thwarted in his attempt to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to the Bernabeu from Manchester United, Calderon signed Dutch playmaker Rafael Van der Vaart from Hamburg instead. Robinho, all the while, was growing increasingly frustrated and insulted at a perceived lack of respect from his club. Why, he wondered, did Madrid require another player to compete for his position in the squad?

Rumors began to circulate about Robinho’s desire for a move in the runup to the EURO 2008 finals. And when he told influential magazine Marca of his intentions two weeks ago, the switch to Chelsea appeared secure.

On Sunday afternoon, the player convened his own press conference and reiterated his desire to join Scolari at Stamford Bridge. Madrid were cool to the idea of negotiating with Kenyon and Chelsea, however, and accepted the bid from City at the last moment. The matter now out of his hands, Robinho immediately agreed a four-year contract and will arrive at Eastlands in mid-September after the next round of World Cup qualifiers.

The sudden and unexpected flurry of activity at Eastlands, which culminated in the Robinho signing, is the first bit of tangible proof that club owner Thaksin Shinawatra has agreed a deal to sell a majority holding in Manchester City Football Club to United Arab Emirates conglomorate Abu Dhabi United Group. Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, is seeking refuge in the United Kingdom to avoid charges of corruption in Thailand. His wife has already been issued a three-year prison sentence and many of his assets are currently frozen.

“Manchester City can confirm that a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) and Manchester City Football Club Limited,” read a statement on City’s website. “A period of due dilligence for all parties, including the FA Premier League has now been entered.”

ADUG chief executive Dr. Sulaiman Al-Fahim is somewhat more confident that the acquisition will be completed in days, if not hours.

“It is really about formalities,” he said. “It is more about securing approval from the authorities in England, such as the Premier League.”

As the company’s pursuit of Manchester City intensified on Thursday and Friday of last week, lucrative bids for the likes of Dimitar Berbatov and Mario Gomez were tabled by the club. Considering the poor state of Shinawatra’s finances, the money could only have been provided by ADUG. Al-Fahim admitted as much on Monday.

“Funds are available, and transfers such as these show we are serious,” he said. “We are very happy to become the new owners of Manchester City, one of the oldest clubs in England.”

In Monday’s other transfer activity, Manchester United put and end to months of speculation by signing Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur for 30.75m-pounds. As part of the package, Spurs also received United striker Frazier Campbell for a year’s loan and dropped their tapping-up allegations regarding Berbatov. Joining Campbell at White Hart Lane was Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, who joined Spurs for 13.8m-pounds from Spartak Moscow. The London club also acquired Vedran Corluka from Manchester City for 8.5m-pounds.

Making way for Berbatov at Old Trafford was Louis Saha. He joined Everton for an undisclosed amount. Liverpool, the other Merseyside club, brought Albert Riera to Anfield from Espanyol for a package which included right-back Steve Finnan. The Reds also signed Vitor Flora on a free transfer from Botafogo.

Jose Mourinho continued to overhaul his squad at Inter Milan. Disappointed by the weekend’s 1-1 draw at Sampdoria, the 45-year-old acquired Portuguese compatriot Ricardo Quaresma from Porto. Going the other way are 24.6m-euros and midfielder Pele. Elsewhere in Italy, Juventus signed Spanish Under-19 international Yago from Barcelona while Genoa added former Real Zaragoza striker Alberto Diego Milito and Palermo midfielder Bosko Jankovic.

Have a question about football? Email your query to jerradpeters@gmail.com.

Jerrad Peters covers football for the Winnipeg Free Press, Soccer Three-Sixty magazine, ESPN Soccernet, and Soccer365.com. His work has also appeared on TheMirror.co.uk, Canadian-soccer.com, Footy247.co.uk, Foot2ball.com, and Squadinfo.com.