Manchester City flop returns home to improve his chances in South Africa
When Sheikh Mansour broke world headlines in sports news with the capture of Robinho for £32.5 million 17 months ago, there was a ring to the chords of “Andriy Shevchenko” in the air. Of a totally different cultural background and footballing technique, Sheva was at a different peak of his career preceding his £30 million British transfer record move to financial powerhouses Chelsea.
Manchester City announce the shock capture of one Robson de Souza. Even Sparky looks amazed
Robinho first burst on the scene in 2002 as one of Brazil’s hottest prospects when Sheva was at his height of his prowess for AC Milan. The six-time Ukrainian Footballer of the year was starting what would be a stellar career with the Rossoneri, having already completed a clean sweep of his country’s top honours in the Ukranian league. Meanwhile, Brazil’s newest samba boy was emulating the feats of Pelé by winning the Campeonato Brasileiro at the age of 17. (Pelé won the World Cup at the same age)
Fast forward the clock to the summer of ’06. Andriy Shevchenko is regarded as one of, if not the most feared striker in Europe and has become the third Ukrainian footballer in history to win the prestigious Ballon D’Or. His mastery over continental and the traditionally stingy Italian defences have been epitomised by a Scudetto, Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana and a famous Champions League medal. The Abramovich Revolution is in full swing at Stamford Bridge and Chelsea’s billionaire owner has finally succeeded in luring Shevchenko to London despite the protests and 10,000 strong petitions of the Milanese fans.
In sunny Madrid further south, Robinho was enjoying a fruitful maiden season with Los Blancos and would eventually win his first league title outside his native Brazil.
The FIFA World Cup 2006 saw both players involved on national duty for Brazil and Ukraine. While Robinho was not a mainstay of Carlos Alberto’s team, Shevchenko captained Ukraine and started in all their matches. Both players suffered the heartache of elimination at the quarter finals.
It was after captaining his country to the dizzy heights of the quarter finals of the World Cup (the furthest the country has progressed to date) that Shevchenko’s fall from grace started. His opening goal of the season in the Community Shield preceded a solitary goal for Chelsea against Middlesbrough during a first 2 months of frustrating football. £30.8 million Shevchenko finished his first season at Chelsea with 4 goals in 30 league appearances, a worse than 1 goal in 7 appearances ratio. To highlight the extent of his underachievement, the teams he managed to find the net against were Sheffield United, Portsmouth, Watford and the afore-mentioned Middlesbrough. 3 of those four teams have been relegated while Pompey looks set to join that lot. Of his four goals, only 2 (against Boro and Pompey) played a role in changing the result of the match.
Flop: Another chance goes begging for Andriy Shevchenko
The writing was on the wall for Sheva 2 short years after his arrival at Stamford Bridge. The man who heralded a new page in the expenditure of football players in the UK was shipped back to AC Milan on a season-long loan. The resurgence in form that was hoped for with the Rossoneri failed to materialise as Milan’s fallen idol failed to score a single goal in the Serie A.
Ironically, it was during the same transfer window that Robinho’s transfer to Manchester City broke the British transfer record to the chagrin of Roman Abramovich. The Brazilian had a greater impact for his English club than Shevchenko, featuring in most of City’s games last season. However, his critics complained not of his performances on the pitch, but his overall lacklustre attitude that fell way short of the expectations of many.
Some of Robinho’s antics after joining the blue half of Manchester included bemoaning his misfortunate at not playing for Barcelona and simply going through the motions when told to warm up before his substitute appearance against Blackburn.
Before the January transfer window opened, Robinho was heaping praises on Barcelona, praising Pep Guardiola’s team to the high heavens. He stopped short of actually saying that he wanted a move to Barcelona, although he did come pretty close by saying that “the closest [he] gets to playing for Barca is disappointingly on [his] PS3”. This after Barca’s biggest rivals Real Madrid had given him entry to the grand stage of European football when he was only 21. Apparently Luis Figo’s abuse failed to give him a better comprehension of the fierce rivalry between both sets of supporters and the repercussions of crossing the bridge over the Castile-Catalonia divide.
Before his departure, Robinho was a constant source of frustration for Mark Hughes and to a greater extent, Roberto Mancini. His humiliation of being a substituted substitute aside against Everton aside, he received flak by Mancini with regards to his work ethic in training. Mark Hughes’ team selections this season spoke volumes about the prodigal Brazilian. You know something is horribly wrong when Sparky picks a Welsh firebrand known for his temper and thuggish behaviour (Craig Bellamy) ahead of England’s richest footballer.
Even Craig Bellamy (right) was preferred to Robinho (left) under Mark Hughes this season.
One can only hope for the sake of football that these special footballers rediscover success in the more familiar surroundings of Dynamo Kyiv and Santos. It would help if the wealthy in football’s elite learnt that sensible spending would be more beneficial to the Beautiful Game than the millions spent for the hype of superstar signing who are very much as human as the hordes who cheer them on.
Commanding astronomical wages at Real Madrid and Manchester City could have been Robinho’s Trojan horse; an obligation to Roman Abramovich as a personal friend may have been the arrow in Shevchenko’s Achilles Heel. The reasons for both players’ failure to leave a positive impact in the Premiership despite the fame that preceded them could be widely documented, but it certainly adds credence to the old adage that all that glitters is not gold.
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