Robinho’S career path is pre-ordained to have a natural course. If the necessity to leave Madrid arose, his next destination would have been either London or Manchester. As it turned out, the Brazilian made the switch from Madrid to Manchester – it is just that instead of playing in the red of United, he would be making his wholly unpredicted Premiership debut in the sky blue of City.
SAMBA BOYS ... Brazil’s Robinho, left, jokes with his Man City teammateJo about the Manchester weather. Rainy, isn’t it?
Dr Sulaiman al-Fahim — who occupies the board seat of the other “doctor” Thaksin Shinawatra as the representative of the ruling Al Nahyan family — has been dubbed Abu Dhabi’s Abramovich, Donald Trump or Alan Sugar.
The 31-year-old property tycoon is the face of the group that purchased City for £200mil – small change for the powerfully wealthy sovereigns worth about £550bil. Al-Fahim wasted no time in warning that the Blues will no longer live in the shadow of their more established rivals in the city but the chill would have been felt more intensely in the boardrooms of Anfield and Emirates Stadium than at Old Trafford.
A flurry of bids for David Villa – the master marksman of Euro 2008 was valued at £40mil – Dimitar Berbatov, which was accepted by Tottenham Hotspur at £34mil, and Mario Gomez of Stuttgart for £10mil were tabled on the eve of transfer deadline day. Only Robinho had snapped at the plump bait in the end – and once the shock over his move to Manchester City and derisory laughter at Chelsea have subsided, we are left to ponder on the implications of this arrangement in the Premier League.
United and Chelsea have mammoth financial clout to withstand any onslaught to their superiority. Al-Fahmi’s boast that City would be bigger than United should be reserved for the future.
United are the wealthiest and most widely supporter club in the planet due to a combination of factors which stand apart from trophy-hogging tendencies. Chelsea have barged into global football by the sheer force of their purchasing muscle — in place of heritage and history — and the charisma and risibility of their former manager, Jose Mourinho.
The top two clubs in England and Europe would not be as perturbed as the other members of the Big Four and Al-Fahim’s claim that they had the option of holding a stake worth up to 25% in Arsenal and Liverpool cast darker doubts over the financial stability of both clubs.
The situation at Anfield does not need any graphic elaboration while that at the Emirates Stadium is one high intrigue. It is no secret that the Arsenal board are reluctant to accede control of the club to foreigner billionaires and it would be interesting to see how long they would hold out for a British investment package.
The reality of player trading in the close season had hit Arsene Wenger and Rafael Benitez hard and the latter almost walked away from Anfield before he was persuaded to complete the job that he had begun in such a grand fashion. He would have another reason to feel distressed: the lady who negotiated the City takeover on behalf of Shinawatra was Amanda Staveley who, as the more observant Liverpool supporters would recall, was also entrusted by Mohammed Rashid Al-Maktoum’s Dubai International Capital (DIC) since late last year to acquire the Reds.
Staveley delivered a trenchant thrust at Liverpool’s stubborn and selfish American owners when she remarked that Thaksin did not “want a repeat of the shenanigans at Liverpool” when he agreed to transfer his ownership to the UAE group for the betterment of the club.
Liverpool could be the real losers following this buyout at the Eastlands: they make £50mil less than Arsenal and United in league match-day takings every season and further delays over the building of their stadium at Stanley Park mean more millions in lost revenue every other week.
There were only small windows of opportunity for the Reds in the past to make up ground; they missed maximising their Premiership potential and committed the unforgivable blunder of selling their soul to the fake sheikhs of American sports rather than a state-owned investment fund such as the DIC. The ill effects are plentiful, from Liverpool’s ugly pursuit of Gareth Barry to the last gasp and compromised signing of Albert Rieira.
Unless they find billionaire benefactors son, Wenger and Benitez are destined to bank on their youth players coming through in the next few seasons to support their ambitions. This model of team management — sound so long they could still be a draw for players of calibre — will consume time to bring in the rewards.
Benitez has reached the Champions League Final twice in four seasons while his adversary at Old Trafford took 22 years to achieve the same feat. Wenger, meanwhile, has spent less to attain his summit in Europe and certainly not the £600mil that Abramovic had thrown at Chelsea to buy a final berth into the continent’s most prestigious competition.
The Frenchman has produced teams that are easy on the eyes – an achievement that has escaped Mourinho and Avram Grant and one that will weigh heavily on their successor, Luiz Felipe Scolari as well.
The financial equation will change if Al-Fahim and associates make good their promise of shopping at the Harrods end of the transfer market come January.
Liverpool would be incapable of attracting the next Fernando Torres while Arsenal could kiss goodbye their hopes of signing the likes of Samir Nasri, as the choices have been expanded from Chelsea and United to City.
The bar that was pushed way above Liverpool and Arsenal — though it was one that still visible — would have been raised beyond their sight when City’s transfer expenditure neared a staggering £77mil with the capture of Robinho.
There is a multifold increase of pressure now on the management teams of both Liverpool and Arsenal to conclude their search for partners capable of countering a second threat from Manchester. The debts that have been tied on to the clubs as a result of moving out to new stadiums are eating away at the budget that has been allocated for player purchases.
The global credit crunch has limited the shortlist of potential financiers for Liverpool and Arsenal and this could lead to undervaluation despite the heavy windfall in the Premiership and Champions League television revenue. The response from the sharp suits at both clubs would, in light of the situation at City, redefine their fortunes in this campaign.
We now wait to see whether there is room for a Big Five or if a review of the Big Four membership is warranted.
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