Former Manchester City player Robinho said that he preferred joining Chelsea instead of City in 2008. However, due to an issue between Chelsea and his then club Real Madrid over the former selling shirts with Robinho’s name on it, the deal fell through.
Robinho played for Real Madrid from 2005-2008, playing 135 matches and scoring 35 goals. He joined Manchester City from Real Madrid in 2008 at a transfer fee of £32.5 million. His transfer happened on the same day when Sheikh Mansour became City’s owner.
Robinho wanted to join Chelsea to play under his former manager at Brazil Luis Felipe Scolari. Scolari also wanted the forward to join because he thought his team lacked creativity.
The former Manchester City player said, “My main goal was to move to Chelsea – Big Phil [Scolari] had said I could make the difference for him as his squad, according to him, was not creative enough.
But Real Madrid had fallen out with Chelsea – they didn’t like them selling shirts with my name on before the deal had been done. I am pretty sure that this error was one of the main reasons why the transfer failed, as it was a matter of pride for Real Madrid.
And they were also reluctant to let me move to a club that was playing in the Champions League the same season – Chelsea were, but City weren’t. I moved to a great club and they welcomed me in the best way. I had one-and-a-half years of joy in Manchester, despite the city being a lot colder than Madrid!”
Robinho’s expectation of moving to Chelsea at that time was such that just after signing for City, he said, “On the last day, Chelsea made a great proposal and I accepted.” A reporter replied to this by saying, “You mean Manchester, right?” Robinho said, “Yeah, Manchester, sorry!”
Robinho played just two seasons at Manchester City as injuries saw him go down the pecking order. He eventually sought a loan move to Santos in 2010 before moving to AC Milan in 2011.
Robinho played 53 matches for City, scoring 16 goals. He currently plays for Turkish club Sivasspor. The 34-year old has made 100 appearances for Brazil, scoring 28 goals. His last international appearance was last January against Colombia at Rio.
