#4 Robinho - €43.00 million
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August 31, 2008 was a monumental day in the history of Manchester City. The events of that day would help shape what we know today as the dominant forces in English football. After the takeover by Sheikh Mansour and his relatively unknown Arab investment company ‘Abu Dhabi United Group’, they needed to make a statement.
And that’s exactly what they did. Not perturbed by their failure to cheekily lure Berbatov from his medical at Manchester United, a flurry of further bids was lodged for several high-profile stars. Robinho, who was all but certain to be headed for Chelsea before the day began, ended up signing for Manchester City in a British record £32.5m purchase from Real Madrid.
Despite finishing as City’s top scorer in his first season with 14 goals, Robinho fell down the pecking order under new manager Roberto Mancini in his second season, scoring just a single goal against lower league Scunthorpe United, before being shipped off to Milan.
Regardless that Robinho’s City career never really took off, the little Brazilian will be long remembered as the signing that heralded a new era at Manchester City.
