Rich Chelsea wanted Robinho three years ago.
But richer Manchester City stole him away at the last moment.
Incredibly, Robinho was nicked by City on deadline day in the summer of 2008 on the very same day that the Arabs bought the club. Buy a club and buy a star on the same day? That was new.
City paid Real Madrid £32.5 million for Robinho and put him on 160K a week because they wanted to make a statement to the world. They did that.
Other clubs wondered what effect a super-rich City would have on them and few really noticed that it was a humiliating blow for the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge. Until the Robinho disappointment, Chelsea had been able to sign most of the stars they wanted.
But the oil money at Man City had move the goalposts, just as the oligarch had moved the goalposts on Arsenal and Manchester United when he dropped out of the sky on July 1st, 2003 and bought Chelsea FC from Ken Bates for £59 million.
The Robinho failure triggered a re-think at Chelsea, who put more faith in youth for the next 18 months.
That risky strategy needed more time to work, so Carlo Ancelotti wanted Fernando Torres last summer.
He signed Torres’s roommate, Yossi Benayoun, and midfielder Ramires, a Brazilian who was Luiz’s mate at Benfica. The other gifted player at Benfica was Di Maria, an Argentinian winger.
Carlo told his team in the summer that Torres was joining them and the players were delighted.
But when he found out that Chelsea hadn\’t put in a proper bid, he was furious.
It’s now clear that Chelsea were scared of Man City. Quite simply, they feared Robinho II and Robinho III and Robinho IV. If they’d bid £50m and 150 K for Torres last summer, City would bid 60m and 200K.
Last summer Jose Mourinho had joined Real Madrid for Inter and he had the connections to sign players from Portuguese clubs. Real Madrid usually have the clout to sign almost any player, especially a Latin player.
At that time Man City were interested in David Luiz but it all went quiet on the curly-haired defender and Mourinho went for Ricardo Carvalho from Chelsea, not Luiz from Benfica, although he did sign De Maria from Benfica.
When the next window came round in January, Chelsea kept their heads down until the end of the month, by which time they were sure that Man City, Real Madrid and Barcelona had done all their business. Roberto Mancini had loaned the disruptive Adebayor to Real Madrid, after their striker Higuain needed surgery, and signed Edin Dzeko for £27 million.
When the coast was clear, and it was too late for another club to intervene, Chelsea suddenly signed David Luiz and Fernando Torres on deadline day.
People naturally wondered : If Chelsea wanted Torres, and really wanted to be sure they signed him, why wait till deadline day? When the deadline is 11pm on Monday the 31st of January, why have your new superstar driving himself to London at 9pm?
Isn’t that a bit risky and disorganised? No, because that was their strategy all along.
Chelsea didn’t want to be gazumped again by Manchester City. They wanted to avoid summer auctions. They signed two players in the January window and both were of a calibre that’s normally only available in the summer.
About 10 days ago I asked a friend, “When have you known a striker of Torres’s proven ability to be sold in January? It just doesn\’t happen.”
It does now.
P.S. Our Reviews page has been updated with pieces on the Eagles and Keith Richards.