Premier League - Robinho hits back at Pele

Eurosport - Thu, 04 Sep 10:24:00 2008

Robinho has responded to reports Pele has criticised him for joining Manchester City, insisting the Brazil icon would have done the same.

FOOTBALL Robinho ex-Real now Manchester City - 0

Former Santos forward Robinho, 24, joined City from Real Madrid on Monday in a shock transfer-deadline-day move after having looked on course for a transfer to Chelsea.

City - bankrolled by prospective new owners the Abu Dhabi United Group - stepped in to meet the asking price and Pele is reported to have said Robinho "needs some serious counselling" as he had been "badly advised" by people close to him.

However, Robinho has stressed the move to City is the right one.

"I accept Pele's criticism as he is the king of football, but if he had been me, he would have done the same," said Robinho, who arrived in Teresopolis in a helicopter yesterday to train with the national team ahead of the World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Bolivia.

"Real did not want to retain me. They even used me as a potential exchange to sign Cristiano Ronaldo. But as that negotiation fell through, they wanted to retain me then.

"If they didn't want to count on me, I didn't want to stay there either, so that is what I told the president."

Robinho also admitted his first intention was to move to Chelsea to be coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari but a number of issues led to Real Madrid cancelling negotiations.

"My first goal was to go to Chelsea as it was the only club to have made a formal offer," he added. "But Real did not like Chelsea shirts with my name on being sold before sorting out the negotiations.

"Also, they did not reach the value Real demanded so then Manchester City came in at the last minute to sign me."

Robinho conceded Real not releasing him to play at the Olympic Games was one of the main reasons why he quit the Spanish side to join City.

The Primera Liga giants denied the forward the chance to play in Beijing last month claiming the Brazilian had an injury, but the forward became angry with the club's board and asked president Ramon Calderon for a move away from the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

"I cried when he (Calderon) didn't let me play at the Olympics and you can check that by asking him," said Robinho.

"I didn't cry to quit. I just told him I didn't want to stay there any longer so I asked to be transferred."

Sporting Life / Eurosport

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  1. At the end of the day the EPL and football in general­ is in the entertainment industry.And as in hollywood­ the bigger the budget the better the actors thus a­ prospective better film.SO if ya can bring in top­ quality footballers the better the entertainment.what­ would be a good idea though would be that these top­ class players can work with youth players at least once­ a week.Hopefully this would benifit the youth system­ thus helping the England team.
    PLEASE... SOMEONE­ EXTREMELY RICH BUY CARLISLE UNITED FOR ME!!!

    From Alan B, on Thu 4 Sep 11:20PM

  2. I would say that too many people get involved in areas­ that do not concern them. One major thing is that­ these people also do not know the facts. Maybe this­ young player did not handle it perfectly. But imagine­ your girlfriend trying to get another boyfriend behind­ your back and you finding out. When it falls through­ she is in love with you again. Real tried their best­ to get a player and it backfired. I do not feel sorry­ for anyone in professional football. It is a business­ and Real made some poor choices. I love Pele, he is­ the best footballer of all time but he should really­ just keep his mouth shut. Pele in today's world­ would be holding clubs hostages left and right. ­ Ronaldo has plenty of time to play for another club. ­ Man U signed him and paid him. They have contracts and­ should honor them. If Real were adamant in keeping­ Robinho than he would have had to just shut up and play­ and honor his contract. The greed of owners and­ players is destroying the game.

    From Steve V, on Thu 4 Sep 10:25PM

  3. It is quite sad to hear Robinho narrating his olympics­ ordeal at the hands of Real Madrid. I do not support­ Man City but if what Robinho says is the truth,­ ditching Real and Chelsea was a good move. Chelsea­ could not come up with a reasonable offer so there is­ nowhere he could have gone to Chelsea for free. Pele is­ admittedly a legend but with such kind of difficulties­ Robinho went through I think the old man's comments­ are a bit too harsh. Robinho, welcome to the­ Premiership!!!!!!!!!!

    From MAKIWA, on Thu 4 Sep 10:15PM

  4. pele is no king !
    he needs 2 learn 2 keep his trap shut­ and show a little respect.
    I hope robinho shows all you­ fools up.
    real madrid got what they deserved and­ chealsea's times up.
    Liverpool next in line 4 a big­ buy out....

    From Adam B, on Thu 4 Sep 6:03PM

  5. c'mon city! We are the contestants for the top 4.­ We're not gonna buy the whole of manu. Someone­ needs to put abu dahbi on track and then tell them to­ invest on the youth not to go mad on transfers and keep­ well awaay from manu and we won't be the new­ chelsea. We won't be hated and we still will have­ the best fans in the world(and the best youth).
    If we­ must buy everyone atleast do it gradually. we are still­ the same city but just with a larger bank­ account...
    high hough,high hough we've got robinho,­ with petrov, jo and elano, high hough(ect.)

    From alex.westbrook, on Thu 4 Sep 6:01PM

  6. Anmar 79 , I'll see you to that million dollar bet­ only if you can repeat that again only in proper­ english you @#$% !

    From wee gordy bhoy, on Thu 4 Sep 5:22PM

  7. Robinho-od,two faced, I want to go to chelsea,then he­ saw more cash at Manchester City,it will do him no­ good.LOL.

    From dellgreen, on Thu 4 Sep 5:15PM

  8. Kudos Robinho, Real tried to use you, and you made them­ pay. I hope CR7 is seeing what kind of club Real are­ through Robinho statements. If you dont think that­ city is poised to change the EPL you are just a dolt. ­ Chelsea have already shown what a good amount of money­ can do. Now we are about to see what a huge amount of­ cash can do.

    And to those of you crying that this­ will kill the youth system. SMASH YOUR XBOXs AND TELEs­ and get your lazy whiner arses up and go play some­ footie.

    From Tiger, on Thu 4 Sep 4:39PM

  9. I think Robinho made the right decison by joining Man­ city. He always wanted to be the best player in the­ world and by joining Man-city will be one of the road­ to success because the Abu Dhabi's are ready to­ make the club one of the best club in the­ world.
    Hassan. London

    From Hassan, on Thu 4 Sep 4:25PM

  10. to charly k,
    you had me rollin' over with laughter­ on this boring afternoon im having...
    cheers...

    From xtian b, on Thu 4 Sep 4:24PM

  11. man city will not be top 4 untill atleast 2010 as they­ will need to win most games this half of the season and­ i dont think that will happen if say robinho gets­ injured.so they will proberly get 5th this season and­ so uefa only next season.and no top class layers want­ to play in uefa. then they want to buy cesc ronaldo and­ torres in january who will be thinkin more about a CL­ FINAL than a deal with man city especialy when cesc and­ torres have already signed long deals soo dream on­ city it takes time to win big +u have to mould an­ entirly new team

    From william, on Thu 4 Sep 4:21PM

  12. Well if this all comes to fruition all the other clubs­ can say goodbye to the Youth system because all they­ will be doing is to produce the stars of the future for­ Man City to buy. What a ridiculous situation. I­ don't think there are many managers who could cope­ with having a squad of world class players, how do you­ keep them happy?
    The answer is a drop in standards,­ players happy to take the substantial rewards and rest­ on thier laurels until thier contracts run out ot are­ sold for tremendous losses.
    Be assured this sort of­ money will bring city nothing, hopefully Mark Hughes­ will keep his feet on the ground, I am sure he will,­ after all his mentor was probably the greatest manager­ ever to grace the english game Sir Alex Ferguerson

    From Rev. Graham J.Smith, on Thu 4 Sep 4:18PM

  13. Robinho is above the bargain for a collateral, how much­ more when he is still imitating his predestine, will he­ settle for less(Real madrid)?

    From joseph, on Thu 4 Sep 3:50PM

  14. something tells me that mourinho will surface at city­ if they miss out on a trophy

    From Sharon R, on Thu 4 Sep 3:47PM

  15. It could not happen to a nicer club - the fans are nice­ the staff are nice and they have a great youth academy,­ and the investors from Anhu dabi have a great track­ record of being interested in sport and the welfare of­ sport (they single handley saved horse racing in­ Europe) and they will invest in the local community and­ the academy. We would have sold Micah Richards like we­ did Shaun Wright Philips if it weren't for these­ new owners and SWP is as good if not better than­ Robhino. The people of Brazil and the world will come­ to love the blue three quarters of Manchester the team­ may not have had the history of Man United because we­ did not have Bobby Charlton but we have had some great­ players and have been around over a hundred years. ­ Already we have 3 top Brazillians and Brazil is the­ best footballing nation and we have a very good team­ and in January we will get better but the psychological­ lift from robhino and the new owners will make us­ improve out of sight. Willy manchester

    From twobills, on Thu 4 Sep 3:42PM

  16. Wise decision boy, you are gonna laugh last coz Mancity­ transformation to a bigger club is imminent . Go go go­ Robinho .

    From oscar, on Thu 4 Sep 3:27PM

  17. well said buda thats a fair point, i know the character­ of robinho and he will get the last laugh, then people­ who critisized him will be eating their words :) !

    From peri, on Thu 4 Sep 3:26PM

  18. Wagner Ribeiro (his agent) is laughing all the way to­ the bank!

    From greg k, on Thu 4 Sep 2:57PM

  19. Charly K, I was having a pretty bad day until i read ur­ comments.. then anmar79's. You have certainly made­ my day.. I'm still laughing.......

    From nasimlaw, on Thu 4 Sep 2:44PM

  20. Tell me something. How come everyone @#$% about foreign­ owners (They have to be rich, even an English man would­ have to be rich to buy a club in such a prestiges­ league)but say nothing when it comes to foriegn­ managers (who are teaching local lads to play­ football), so it's ok to get whatever you can from­ overseas knowledge and money as long as when you're­ done with them you can kick them out easily? And lets­ not even talk about paying huge sums of money to have a­ foreign coach for the national team, I mean if you hate­ foreigners so much in your game then hire an english­ coach for your national side and don't @#$% if you­ start loosing and run to the next succesful, available­ foreign coach. So leave the man alone and let him play­ at city it just means it will be that much better of a­ game when you play against them and that much more­ satisfaction in beating them and showing the world oil­ ain't everything, or is it?

    From buda, on Thu 4 Sep 1:50PM
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