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Manchester City's Robinho putting Cristiano Ronaldo in shade ahead of derby
Manchester City must be doing something right to have suddenly become worthy targets for Sir Alex Ferguson's mind games.
Robinho, the Manchester City
footballer, has been arrested over allegations of sexual assault Photo: GETTY IMAGES
12:03AM GMT 29 Nov 2008
Comment
Maybe it is the £32.5million British-record signing of Robinho, the
bottomless oil well of money placed at the club's disposal by Sheikh Mansour bin
Zayed Al Nahyan or perhaps it might even be last Saturday's clinical dismantling
of Arsenal at Eastlands.
Whatever the justification for Ferguson's pre-derby dismissal of Manchester
United's nouveau riche neighbours, the significance is in the fact that the Old
Trafford manager is actually taking the time to belittle Mark Hughes' club.
Until recently, City's presence on United's radar was nothing more than a
twice-yearly blip in between more important assignments against their real
rivals in Liverpool and London.
But Ferguson takes United to Eastlands tomorrow suggesting that City's
mid-table position in the Premier League underlines the adage that money does
not always guarantee success.
In September, Ferguson derided City's apparent interest in Cristiano Ronaldo
as "absurd", but the wealthiest club in Manchester, England and, perhaps, the
world, do hold genuine big-time ambitions.
Sheikh Mansour desires a club whose global stature matches United and City
are likely to spend whatever it takes to achieve that goal.
And outstripping United is possible according to Robinho, the Brazilian forward who has outshone Ronaldo so far this season and whose goal threat is likely to cause United their greatest concern tomorrow.
"In football, nothing is impossible, anything can happen." Robinho insisted. "Manchester City might be classed as a small club today, but in two or three years' time, who knows?
"I remember Chelsea – three or four years ago they were considered a small club, but now they are a big club. Anything can happen. The people who say Manchester City are a small club will be talking about what a big club it is in two or three years.
"The only thing in my mind is to stay here for many years to come and, next year, we will try our best to reach the Champions League."
Whether Robinho held the same view of Manchester City on Aug 31 is difficult to imagine. At that point, Chelsea were feverishly attempting to prise the 24-year-old from Real Madrid and City, from the outside at least, were drifting towards the Sept 1 transfer deadline with nothing left in the pot and fears over the club's future in the hands of Thaksin Shinawatra.
But what a difference a day makes. By midnight on Sept 1, City were the plaything of the Abu Dhabi royal family and Robinho was wearing the blue of Manchester City rather than that of Chelsea.
Dimitar Berbatov was not swayed by City's offer as he instead opted to move from Spurs to United, but Robinho had no reservations about heading to Eastlands for a £160,000-a-week contract following Chelsea's failure to seal the deal.
Robinho said: "The reason I came to City was not only for the money. If it was for the money, I would have gone to play elsewhere. I had offers from Saudi Arabia and Japan and I could have earned more money by saying yes to them.
"It was Chelsea's own fault that I did not go there. I didn't want to stay at Real Madrid and Chelsea knew that and, at the beginning, they were the only club who had made an offer for me.
"Real did not want me to go to Chelsea for two reasons. Everything would probably have been OK, but they put a picture of me on the website and Madrid were very upset about that.
"The second is that Chelsea are in the Champions League and, with me, would
have been even stronger.
And outstripping United is possible according to Robinho, the Brazilian forward who has outshone Ronaldo so far this season and whose goal threat is likely to cause United their greatest concern tomorrow.
"In football, nothing is impossible, anything can happen." Robinho insisted. "Manchester City might be classed as a small club today, but in two or three years' time, who knows?
"I remember Chelsea – three or four years ago they were considered a small club, but now they are a big club. Anything can happen. The people who say Manchester City are a small club will be talking about what a big club it is in two or three years.
"The only thing in my mind is to stay here for many years to come and, next year, we will try our best to reach the Champions League."
Whether Robinho held the same view of Manchester City on Aug 31 is difficult to imagine. At that point, Chelsea were feverishly attempting to prise the 24-year-old from Real Madrid and City, from the outside at least, were drifting towards the Sept 1 transfer deadline with nothing left in the pot and fears over the club's future in the hands of Thaksin Shinawatra.
But what a difference a day makes. By midnight on Sept 1, City were the plaything of the Abu Dhabi royal family and Robinho was wearing the blue of Manchester City rather than that of Chelsea.
Dimitar Berbatov was not swayed by City's offer as he instead opted to move from Spurs to United, but Robinho had no reservations about heading to Eastlands for a £160,000-a-week contract following Chelsea's failure to seal the deal.
Robinho said: "The reason I came to City was not only for the money. If it was for the money, I would have gone to play elsewhere. I had offers from Saudi Arabia and Japan and I could have earned more money by saying yes to them.
"It was Chelsea's own fault that I did not go there. I didn't want to stay at Real Madrid and Chelsea knew that and, at the beginning, they were the only club who had made an offer for me.
"Real did not want me to go to Chelsea for two reasons. Everything would probably have been OK, but they put a picture of me on the website and Madrid were very upset about that.
