Robinho signing sends message

MANCHESTER City sealed the British record transfer of Robinho from Real Madrid late last night with manager Mark Hughes describing the amazing signing as “a huge statement of intent”.

The Blues managed to steal the limelight from rivals Manchester United, who completed the signing of Dimitar Berbatov, with the capture of the Brazil forward in a deal understood to be worth around £32million after the club moved close to a takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment.

Hughes remarked: “It’s been one hell of a day. It’s a huge statement of intent. A lot of credit has got to go to Dr Thaksin (Shinawatra, the club’s current chairman and owner) for being able to bring the Abu Dhabi company to the table and this huge investment that is going to go forward.

“They wanted to present something to the people of Manchester and they have been able to do that.

“It’s a fantastic signing for us. If we’re going to get to the places we want to get to we are going to have to compete against outstanding teams. We have to attract world–class players and that is what we have done.

“He is an exceptional talent and opposition teams are going to fear him.”

Robinho’s move to Eastlands will have stunned Chelsea, who remained confident of signing the Brazilian as late as yesterday evening.

City had earlier grabbed the headlines by attempting to hijack Berbatov’s transfer to Manchester United but when the Bulgarian opted for Old Trafford they moved instead for Robinho.

And City’s prospective new owners also revealed they had lodged bids for Valencia striker David Villa and Stuttgart forward Mario Gomez.

Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim, City’s owner-elect, expects his group’s takeover of the club to have the same impact as Roman Abramovich’s buy-out of Chelsea five years ago.