The Daily Mail today reports that Robinho was swanning off to Brazil whilst his new Man City teammates were getting shamed by Brighton in the Carling Cup…
The Mail reckons Sparky Hughes gave his big-money signing special dispensation to leave, saying:
Sportsmail understands that Robinho, 23, had been given permission by manager
Mark Hughes to fly home to Sao Paulo to sort out some domestic issues while City
lost in embarrassing fashion on the south coast.Having arrived at the club only two weeks earlier, Robinho, the Barclays Premier League’s highest paid and most expensive player, played a starring role in last Sunday’s 6-0 thrashing of Portsmouth at the City of Manchester Stadium and then caught a plane to South America.
With City’s next game not until Sunday – when they travel to Wigan – Hughes clearly feels that Robinho will have enough time to recover from a 11,000-mile round trip and two nine-hour flights in order to be ready to face Steve Bruce’s men. (Daily Mail)
I wonder if Mark Hughes will allow his star player to saunter off any time soon in the future? And does the special treatment given to Robinho mean that “lesser” players will feel that he is getting special treatment?