Robinho’s New Ride

By: chris | September 4th, 2008
   

After a two week period which has seen his name battered from pillar to post, his reputation dragged through the London and Madrid sewers, and been labeled as nothing more than a mercenary, how to you think Robinho would take to sprucing up his image and defending himself? Children’s charities would be a start. Maybe showing himself to be incredibly humble and merely a fortunate member of the masses by taking public transportation to training. Nope, he took a helicopter to a training session for the Selecao, skipping right past Aston Martin and Lamborghini on the list of “shit you buy when you become insanely rich” and into the big leagues.

Now, he has a pretty legitimate excuse, because he claims it was the only way to get to training on time and Dunga would’ve been none too pleased were that the case. But he was already late, what with being allowed to come a day after every else so he could become the highest paid football player in the world and all – clearly nothing primadonna-ish about it. What’s another 15 minutes?

But he’s not backing down, last resort and all that:


“I didn’t want to arrive by helicopter because people will say that I’m getting carried away with success, but there was no other way.”

So how many times do you think he’ll be “too late to take a car” to Citeh training this season?


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  • Bashar, you're right. The $250m was an estimate of the total he'd receive from all revenue sources, including endorsements, jersey sales, etc.

    For Designated Players like Beckham, the league picks up the first $400k of salary and the team owners pick up the rest. So $400k for MLS, $6.1m for AEG, the Galaxy's owners.
  • Bashar
    haha.. alessio.. true. but there is no way to condone Robinho's behavior.. irregardless of how upset he was at being a bargaining chip. Ramos was also mentioned as part of the Ronaldo deal.. but he stood up saying he is proud of Man Utd's interest.. I'm sure there was also something in there about him worrying only about Madrid for now or something.. then he moved on without being a whiny prat.

    When Beckham moved to LA Galaxy the offer was some $250 mn in 5 years. That's $50 mn per year. What does that include. I always thought it was salary plus all commercial contracts and whatnot.

    Also in the MLS, the contracts are owned by the leagues so I'm not sure whether it is them or LA who is paying him the salary. If the league assigns a salary cap and holds the contract... Although where would they get the money back from.. not sure.
  • You wanna know the BEST part? It ain't the helicopter...


    http://www.independent.co.uk/s...
    In explaining his move to Manchester City the Brazilian made a gaffe when he said: "On the last day, Chelsea made me a great proposal and I accepted it," he said, to which a reporter replied: "You mean Manchester right?". "Yeah, Manchester, sorry!" answered Robinho. It would seem his move is yet to sink in.

    Awesome.
  • mele419
    Firstly, Question:
    Why do people feel the need to just be total douchebags?
    Case in point: Evan and Jack.

    Second, why the hell is everyone getting so worked up about if he's the highest paid or not? Does anyone really give a shit? (if you answered yes there get off your computer and find something to do in the sun, and I don't mean move your computer near the window.)

    Thirdly, Robinho obv did it for the money, and he's just a prick, but I think that Real fans should get over it because what's done is done and you should be happy to get rid of him.

    Fourth, This is sickening, why? Is there really a need for the helicopter? Absolutely not. I'm sure Robinho will quickly become one of the most loathed players of modern footy.
  • sandrahn
    Reaction in Brazil has been negative among people in football, with the president of Santos (his former club) coming out with very strong words against him. The helicopter thing is no big deal -- the training camp at Teresopolis is in the mountains, not easy to get to, and since he was late, helicopter was quicker than a car.

    When Robinho was at Santos, he went on strike in order to force a move to Real. Same thing he did now. So this isn't new for him. However, he did prefer Chelsea and would've accepted their lower salary offer had Real accepted Chelsea's bid. Chelsea are in the CL after all. As it was, he had the choice of staying at Real or go to City, and staying at Real was not an option.

    Chelsea shot themselves in the foot by arrogantly producing t-shirts with Robinho's name on it with his number. Real were incensed by this, and they hadn't liked Chelsea's entire style and approach beforehand either.

    Felipao is furious with his new employers for refusing to add £4m to their bid for Robinho. Felipao had really planned on having Robinho in his squad this season.

    Robinho has been saying since his days at Santos that he wants to be the "world's greatest player" so for him to choose City means he was that desperate to leave. It's true he hasn't helped his case at all in Madrid with his conduct on and off the pitch (Real fans are glad to see the back of him) but Real also have treated him pretty shabbily. Calderon considers him to be Perez's last remaining "galactico" and has targeted him for particular humiliation.

    Like most Brazilians, I'm still in shock that he's going to City. Anyone who knows Robinho, tho, will know that he will not last there. Robinho complains that Spanish football does not protect their players enuf from rough treatment -- wait till he gets a load of Hull, Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan and all the northern English cloggers. He'll be just as appalled as Jose Antonio Reyes and Julio Baptista were at the poor quality of football, the regular violent tackling and the failure of referees to control it.

    Robinho expects to be granted free kicks every time he's touched and shows outrage when the ref denies him. He often dives. He's petulant, indisciplined and has an irritating goal celebration.

    Initially he'll be happy to be away from Real but he'll eventually discover that English football is not for him. And he will hate Manchester -- London would've been more his speed and style, tho even London would eventually bore him. I expect him to start maneuvering for a move in the summer.

    City fans will eventually be very glad to see the back of him. He has definite skills and talents but he's inconsistent, he can be easily controlled by smart opposition (I've seen it too many times) and his conduct on and off the pitch turns fans off. He's a constant partier who drinks far too much and often arrives late to the dressing room. He'll cut out that behavior initially but it'll soon start to creep back in.

    It'll be hilarious watching a guy like Hughes handling him. It's a totally bizarro world match.
  • Nicole
    Yes, £95,000 after tax. His before tax wage is £160,000. If that is in fact his correct wage, it would make him the highest EPL player, unless Lampard is making £150,000 after taxes are deducted and not before tax is taken out.
  • Evan
    your all american and dont know football, no not american football its 'soccer'. ok he is paid alot of money but its £95,000 a week muppets
  • nobobomo
    I seriously, seriously doubt Becks' wages from the Galaxy are anywhere near 160,000 pounds a week.
  • Easy enough. All MLS Salaries are public. Beckham makes $6.5 million per year, or $125,000 per week. Approximately 75k pounds.

    He may make a bundle off of jersey sales and endorsements, but that's separate from his salary, and salary is what we're talking about here.
  • gareth
    *researches beckhams wages*
  • You people are idiots, Robinho is now on a 160k per week deal. That makes him the highest paid footballer in the world. Do some research.
  • The Realist, SW14
    what a pile of uninformed, petty and infantile drivel.

    highest paid footballer in the world? have you forgotten Beckscum, Terry, Lampoon and Bollack for a start?

    Even the nouveau-riche claim is way off the mark. I think you'll find he was quite rich before he went to City.



    Haven't read this blog before and won't be coming back.
  • James
    I would've taken a unicorn.
  • nobobomo
    He should have borrowed the Sheiks team of robotic golden pegasi from Abu Dhabi to fly in from a rainbow while sprinkling lavish scarves lined with precious silver strands and diamond encrusted truffles across Brazil while waving a giant flag with his own face on it. That ought to do it.
  • gareth
    Lear Jet Jan, obviously. Robinho was slumming it. FACT.
  • gareth
    "the highest paid football player in the world"?!... he's not even the highest paid footballer in Manchester. The poor thing.
    Was it even his chopper?
  • Jan
    How did all the other Brazil players arrive at the training ground without being kidnapped then?
  • Jean-Marc
    Such a comment by the writer goes to show how ignorant and arrogant he or she is when it come to crime and current traffic situation in Brazil. I guess the writer would love to see Robinho kidnapped by one of the many gang syndicates that prey on celebrities as they drive through the dangerous streets of Brazil, so that their no atlethic talent can have something to write about in their blogs. In future do some research before you write crap
  • Corey
    No, he wasnt in it for the money or anything. To many people have left me desparing comments on my blog saying I need to grow up and get over his move. Why? It was one of the biggest shams in the history of football!
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