20 transfers that were hijacked by clubs: Part 2

Robinho

Robinho was going to be used as a deal by Real Madrid to bring Ronaldo to Spain

On the final day of the Premier League summer transfer window a few years back, Manchester City hijacked this deal from Chelsea to make him their marquee signing worth around £32.5m.

Robinho had earlier expressed his desire to play for a London club and Madrid had also given their consent for the player to leave. Chelsea were confident that the player would sign for them and everything was in place. However, the new owners of Manchester City, Abu Dhabi United Group, wanted to make their presence felt and turned towards Robinho and signed him on a four-year deal.

The player was so inclined to joining Chelsea that after joining he said, “Chelsea made a great proposal and I accepted.” When prompted “You mean Manchester City, right?” he said, “Yeah, Manchester, sorry.”