The Brazil international Robinho is "desperate" to leave
Real Madrid to join Chelsea and is considering making an
extraordinary public statement denouncing the behaviour of the
Spanish champions if they block the expected move.
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According to a source close to the deal, Chelsea will pay £25m
to sign the 24-year-old who, after a series of meetings in London
involving his agent, Wagner Ribeiro, has agreed personal terms on a
five-year contract at Stamford Bridge.
The source said that Chelsea remain extremely confident that the
deal will go through but that Robinho has grown increasingly
frustrated with the delay. The striker believes he was given a
guarantee that he could move if Real were made an appropriate
offer, which has now been made. "The boy is desperate to come to
Chelsea and is prepared to make a statement against the club [Real]
if they don't let him go," the source said.
Contrary to some claims, it is understood that the sale of
Robinho is not in any way linked to Real's attempts to sign
Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, although they would
certainly like to bolster their squad before letting him go.
Yesterday, Real failed with an initial bid of just £5.8m to sign
the Netherlands midfielder Rafael van der Vaart from Hamburg.
Real, whose squad are at a pre-season training camp in Austria,
have also withdrawn Robinho from Brazil's Olympic squad – he was
chosen as one of the over-age players – citing an injury. However,
the Brazilians believe he is not being allowed to play so as not to
jeopardise his move to Chelsea.
The Premier League club have publicly confirmed their interest
in Robinho and claimed his signing would be the last they make in
this transfer window. However, that may not be the case, especially
if another Brazilian, Kaka, also makes a public statement saying it
is time for him to leave Milan. Chelsea would then swoop and are
prepared to pay a world-record transfer fee.
This week the Chelsea chief executive, Peter Kenyon, has, on
several occasions, spoken confidently about a deal for Robinho
taking place and dismissed suggestions that the player wants to
stay at Real and has signed a new contract there.
Robinho would certainly add to Chelsea's attacking options –
Kenyon said he offers "a different dimension" – and is much admired
by the new manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who has called him one of
the game's "great players". Chelsea would consider playing him as a
main striker, alongside Didier Drogba if he stays, but also in one
of the wide positions which may, ultimately, be bad news for Joe
Cole, although it is understood he may be one of the next players
to be offered a new contract.
Chelsea are close to agreeing a deal to sell Tal Ben Haim to
Manchester City for £5m, while a bid of between £8m and £10m is
expected from Portsmouth for winger Shaun Wright-Phillips. Both
players, along with Claudio Pizarro and Juliano Belletti, have been
told they can leave as Scolari carries through his plan to trim his
squad, while midfielder Florent Malouda can also go if Chelsea
recoup the fee – £13.5m – they paid for him last year.
Chelsea continue their pre-season tour of Asia today with a
match against Chengdu Blades in Macau. While Michael Ballack is
poised to join up with the squad after his short honeymoon in
Ibiza, Jose Bosingwa may have to be withdrawn following a thigh
injury.
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