For Real Madrid fans still stunned from Robinho's sudden departure.
It was the transfer deal that stunned the football world, but what damage has been done to Real Madrid after Robinho's move to Manchester City?
Revista's men-in-the know Graham Hunter and Guillem Balague have been monitoring the transfer market all summer, but even they were taken aback when news emerged of the Brazilian's proposed move to Eastlands.
After Real Madrid's attempts to land Cristiano Ronaldo upset Robinho, it seemed that the 24-year-old would be heading to Chelsea - until Man City and their new owners came in with a record-breaking deadline day bid.
Graham and Guillem took a look back at the fall-out between Robinho and Real Madrid and how it has created huge rifts between president Roman Calderon, sporting director Pedrag Mijatovic and head coach Bernd Schuster.
'Pathetic' Robinho
Guillem: Somebody who has a go at the chairman, has a go at the coach, has a go at the fans and says 'I can't be the best player in the world at Real Madrid' - you cannot keep him. He wasn't going to be welcome. It got to a point on Monday morning when he was pleading with the chairman and said if they didn't let him go he was going to retire from football. Real Madrid were happy to let him do that until 7pm when Manchester City's offer arrived.
City surprise
Graham: It would be stupid of me to say people aren't surprised. Manchester City only had new owners as of Monday morning so it was a shock to everybody. I don't think anybody outside of Eastlands expected that to happen. I just hope he grows up and plays the football we know he's capable of and the Premier League enjoy having a guy of that skill.
Real's 'botch-up'
Graham: I go back to the botch-up that Real Madrid have made in handling this. While Robinho has been pretty pathetic in the way he's got out of the club, he's actually told the truth about how badly he was treated from May onwards. Remember that Robinho scored 15 times last season and had 12 or 13 goal assists. All they had to do before pursuing Cristiano Ronaldo was to go to him and say they would reward him and he would still be part of their plans, even if Ronaldo comes. They should have given him a new contract and told him to go away and enjoy his summer. It was the simplest thing to do, but between Calderon and Mijatovic they utterly botched it up and it's their fault he behaved this way and has gone to Manchester City.
Guillem: From the moment Ronaldo didn't come they should have gone to Robinho and renewed his contract. They should look after him as their star. Instead of that, Calderon gave the go-ahead for Robinho to go.
A club divided?
Guillem: The club now is divided. It's Schuster v Mijatovic and this is a war that has been going on for a year and will continue. Calderon was in the middle - on the one hand he had Schuster saying 'keep Robinho' and on the other he had Mijatovic saying 'sell him for 42million euros'. Schuster feels it's other people making the team and you could see him really upset at the end of the game against Deportivo. There were criticisms of him and he said he couldn't put anybody else on because there was nobody on the bench. I think we've seen the seeds of what's going to destroy Real Madrid this season.
Graham: I don't want to be seen as defending somebody who behaved so pathetically, but I think he was an important player. Maybe not at the level of Casillas or Raul or Van Nistelrooy, but he changes games and the fans love him. He goes past people and in modern football you can't put a price on that. They got the money up front so if they make it to Christmas with Schuster still in charge they can spend that money again and it may be no big deal.
A laughing stock?
Guillem: Calderon does not want to be the man who didn't get Kaka, didn't get Ronaldo, didn't get Cesc and also let go of Robinho in the last few hours of the transfer window. All of a sudden you've got a chairman who's weak, a club that is weak and you cannot compare Real Madrid to Manchester United. That is a club that is run properly, Real Madrid is a little bit of a joke.
Oh and just for those people who may think that this is mere mud-slinging at Real, the people talking about this situation is Sky Sports' La Liga analyst and Reviste De La Liga host, Guillem Balague, who is Spaniard from Barcelona - he does not support FC Barcelona but rather RCD Espanyol and is also an open Liverpool FC fan as well as a close friend of Rafa Benitez (so that goes any soft-spot he may have for Manchester United doesnt it ?)
http://www.guillembalague.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillem_Balague
It was the transfer deal that stunned the football world, but what damage has been done to Real Madrid after Robinho's move to Manchester City?
Revista's men-in-the know Graham Hunter and Guillem Balague have been monitoring the transfer market all summer, but even they were taken aback when news emerged of the Brazilian's proposed move to Eastlands.
After Real Madrid's attempts to land Cristiano Ronaldo upset Robinho, it seemed that the 24-year-old would be heading to Chelsea - until Man City and their new owners came in with a record-breaking deadline day bid.
Graham and Guillem took a look back at the fall-out between Robinho and Real Madrid and how it has created huge rifts between president Roman Calderon, sporting director Pedrag Mijatovic and head coach Bernd Schuster.
'Pathetic' Robinho
Guillem: Somebody who has a go at the chairman, has a go at the coach, has a go at the fans and says 'I can't be the best player in the world at Real Madrid' - you cannot keep him. He wasn't going to be welcome. It got to a point on Monday morning when he was pleading with the chairman and said if they didn't let him go he was going to retire from football. Real Madrid were happy to let him do that until 7pm when Manchester City's offer arrived.
City surprise
Graham: It would be stupid of me to say people aren't surprised. Manchester City only had new owners as of Monday morning so it was a shock to everybody. I don't think anybody outside of Eastlands expected that to happen. I just hope he grows up and plays the football we know he's capable of and the Premier League enjoy having a guy of that skill.
Real's 'botch-up'
Graham: I go back to the botch-up that Real Madrid have made in handling this. While Robinho has been pretty pathetic in the way he's got out of the club, he's actually told the truth about how badly he was treated from May onwards. Remember that Robinho scored 15 times last season and had 12 or 13 goal assists. All they had to do before pursuing Cristiano Ronaldo was to go to him and say they would reward him and he would still be part of their plans, even if Ronaldo comes. They should have given him a new contract and told him to go away and enjoy his summer. It was the simplest thing to do, but between Calderon and Mijatovic they utterly botched it up and it's their fault he behaved this way and has gone to Manchester City.
Guillem: From the moment Ronaldo didn't come they should have gone to Robinho and renewed his contract. They should look after him as their star. Instead of that, Calderon gave the go-ahead for Robinho to go.
A club divided?
Guillem: The club now is divided. It's Schuster v Mijatovic and this is a war that has been going on for a year and will continue. Calderon was in the middle - on the one hand he had Schuster saying 'keep Robinho' and on the other he had Mijatovic saying 'sell him for 42million euros'. Schuster feels it's other people making the team and you could see him really upset at the end of the game against Deportivo. There were criticisms of him and he said he couldn't put anybody else on because there was nobody on the bench. I think we've seen the seeds of what's going to destroy Real Madrid this season.
Graham: I don't want to be seen as defending somebody who behaved so pathetically, but I think he was an important player. Maybe not at the level of Casillas or Raul or Van Nistelrooy, but he changes games and the fans love him. He goes past people and in modern football you can't put a price on that. They got the money up front so if they make it to Christmas with Schuster still in charge they can spend that money again and it may be no big deal.
A laughing stock?
Guillem: Calderon does not want to be the man who didn't get Kaka, didn't get Ronaldo, didn't get Cesc and also let go of Robinho in the last few hours of the transfer window. All of a sudden you've got a chairman who's weak, a club that is weak and you cannot compare Real Madrid to Manchester United. That is a club that is run properly, Real Madrid is a little bit of a joke.
Oh and just for those people who may think that this is mere mud-slinging at Real, the people talking about this situation is Sky Sports' La Liga analyst and Reviste De La Liga host, Guillem Balague, who is Spaniard from Barcelona - he does not support FC Barcelona but rather RCD Espanyol and is also an open Liverpool FC fan as well as a close friend of Rafa Benitez (so that goes any soft-spot he may have for Manchester United doesnt it ?)
http://www.guillembalague.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillem_Balague
) eeh Suprah?
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