Robinho has revealed that Chelsea selling jerseys with his name on the back of them before he had even joined the club forced Real Madrid to block his move to the capital in 2008.
Robinho came through the Santos youth academy and after nine years with the Brazilian giants, Real Madrid snapped up the highly-rated forward in 2005.
However, the Sao Vicente-born star struggled in Spain and was heavily linked with a number of clubs in the summer of 2008 after three years with Los Blancos.
Many felt Robinho’s ties with compatriot Luiz Felipe Scolari – manager of Chelsea at the time – would lure the forward to the capital, but instead it was Manchester City who wrapped up a deal in one of Sheikh Mansour’s first big statements as owner of the club.
“My goal was to move to Chelsea – Big Phil said I could make the difference for
him as his squad, according to him, was not creative enough,” Robinho toldFourFourTwo.
“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’m 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.”
Robinho, 33, spent just two years with Manchester City – six months of that were spent on loan with Santos – before he left for AC Milan.
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