Former Real Madrid star Robinho opens up on failed Chelsea transfer

Former Real Madrid and Manchester City star Robinho has opened up on his failed transfer to Chelsea back in 2008 (h/t Express).

Robinho, back at the time, was regarded as one of the best exponents of Brazilian football. The forward signed for Real Madrid from Santos in 2005 and enjoyed decent success in Spain.

In 2008, the Brazilian was heavily linked with a transfer to Chelsea. Former Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari was in charge at Stamford Bridge at the time and he was intent on bringing in the forward from Real Madrid (h/t Express).

Robinho and Frank Lampard could have been teammates

The news of Robinho’s impending transfer to Chelsea became so well-publicized that the club had already begun to sell jerseys with the Brazilian’s name printed on the back well before the announcement of the transfer (h/t Express).

And this did not go down well with Real Madrid, who ended up pulling out of the deal and instead sold Robinho to our rivals Manchester City the same year (h/t Express).

Speaking about the failed move to Stamford Bridge, Robinho said (h/t Express):

“My goal was to go to Chelsea. Scolari told me it would make a difference for him on the team. But Real Madrid ended badly with them. They didn’t like Chelsea selling shirts with my name on it before the deal was done.”

Chelsea began to sell Robinho shirts even before the deal was done

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Robinho made a blazing start to life in England at Manchester City, but a serious injury in his second season meant he fell down the pecking order and eventually left to rejoin Santos. The 36-year-old is currently plying his trade at Turkish club Istanbul Basaksehir.

Given how well he was performing at the time he was close to joining us, one can only wonder what would’ve happened had our club shown a little more restraint.