Robinho any one?

I remember seeing the breaking news on Sky Sports almost two years ago that the golden era of Manchester City had begun, as they began to buy world stars. Their spending spree, which is still continuing, started with Robinho from Real Madrid for £32.5 million. It was really just a panic buy as the transfer window closed in a desperate attempt to send out a message to the Premier League to show that they are actually there and they do have money to spend.

At first it seemed like it was paying off - Robinho scored a free-kick against Chelsea and made teams sit up and notice them... for about twenty minutes. Chelsea, the team that were also interested in buying Robinho at the time, won the game after coming from behind - showing City how real title contenders perform.

Now, however, Robinho's career in Manchester seems well and truly dead. He seemed un-fit when he did play for them, and he was shipped off to Brazilian club Santos, where he seemed to regain some fitness and form. But while he was at Santos, City built up a striking force that even a fit Robinho can't struggle into, and City are still building.

Robinho wants to stay at Santos, but Santos can't afford to buy him on a permanent basis, and though City don't want him, they don't want to loan him out again because they want to re-coup at least £20 million for him. Other potential suitors who could afford the transfer fees are put off by his massive wage demands of £160,000 a week.

Unless Santos can negotiate a deal with City to acquire Robinho's services on loan for another season, he could be left to rot on the City bench, or even worse, with the new 25 man squad and home-grown player rule, he may be left out of the squad altogether.