In what appears to be an exploratory bid on Chelsea’s part, Ribeiro stated:

"I met Peter Kenyon in London on Thursday. "He told me that they were considering making an offer of £28m for Robinho.  

"We did not talk about wages or the length of the contract."

Robinho, 24, also publicly revealed our intentions to sign him:

"What could happen is that I could go to Chelsea, as I have an offer from them."

As yet, Kenyon has not denied their claims. 

But then in what makes me feel the player and his agent are also prepared to use our possible interest in persuading Real Madrid to up his current contract he said: 

"Milan are also interested in me."  

It should also be remembered that Robinho claimed Arsenal were after him during the 2006/7 season but he had rebuffed their interest as he was happy at Real Madrid despite not enjoying the best of form nor the favour of Capello at that time. 

Question is, is Kenyon making this move on behalf of Grant or on behalf of another manager we've already got lined up? Or is this a Direction purchase where the board are partly responsible for bringing in the players they feel the club needs as is often done on the continent? 

There can be no doubt as to the player’s quality and Mourinho once described him as “liquid gold”.

Robinho originally hails from Brazilian club Santos when under the auspices of Pele – during the 2004 season he scored 21 goals in 37 league games.

The 2004-05 season was a difficult time for him when his mother, Marina da Silva Souza, was kidnapped by gunman but she was released unharmed six weeks later after a ransom was paid.

In July 2005 he signed for Real Madrid for €24 million but didn’t really get going until last season where he scored 15 goals in 37 appearances.

Last year the Spanish media reported that Robinho and Ronaldinho were left on the subs bench for their clubs after “missing” their flights back to Spain.  Further reports of partying until all hours were also made but these days the media do tend to exaggerate and sensationalise genuine celebrations.

I’m not sure whether to be pleased by the news – a fantastic player – but the fee seems too high - and the last thing we want is someone who spends his time in the West End or missing home every 5 minutes.

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