Brazilian striker Robinho has revealed that he wanted to join Chelsea in 2008. The former Real Madrid striker claims that the club refused to sell him to The Blues despite reportedly agreeing on a deal with them.
“My main goal was to move to Chelsea,” the striker revealed in his FourFourTwo interview (via Goal.com). “Big Phil had said I could make the difference for him as his squad, according to him, was not creative enough.”
Luiz Felipe Scolari was just appointed the Chelsea manager at that time and he wanted the striker at Stamford Bridge. The Blues were in talks with Madrid and were reportedly close to agreeing a deal for him.
However, a technical error by Chelsea on their website spoiled everything for them. Reports suggested that they ‘accidentally’ started selling shirts with his name on their site and that didn’t go down well at the Bernabeu.
Robinho confirmed that it was indeed the case and said, “But Real Madrid had fallen out with Chelsea – they didn’t like them selling shirts with my name on before the deal had been done.”
“I am pretty sure that this error was one of the main reasons why the transfer failed, as it was a matter of pride for Real Madrid,” added the striker.
Eventually, Madrid decided they were not willing to sell him to Chelsea anymore and chose to offload him elsewhere. They made the excuse that they wanted to sell him to a club that is not playing in the UEFA Champions League.
Manchester City made a late move and signed him on Deadline Day for £32.5 million.
“And they were also reluctant to let me move to a club that was playing in the Champions League the same season – Chelsea were, but City weren’t,” said Robinho.