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Robinho, Berbatov join most expensive list

Manchester City’s £32.5 million capture of Robinho on Monday has made the Brazilian the fifth most expensive player in football history, and the transfer is the biggest ever involving a Premier League club.

Zinedine Zidane’s £46m move from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001 is still the world record, but with the likes of Kaka, Lionel Messi, Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and David Villa now on City’s radar, that figure will surely be broken next year, Telegraph co.uk predicted on Tuesday.

The signing of Robinho is the first time Man City has appeared in the ‘Top 14’ all-time transfer record list.

Previously, the only Premier League sides to reach those heights were Chelsea and Manchester United. Indeed, United now shows up four times following the £30.75m signing of Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham on Monday.

The Bulgarian joins Rio Ferdinand, Sebastian Veron and Wayne Rooney as Sir Alex Ferguson‘s most expensive purchases – a figure totalling £114.95m.

Chelsea appears once - its £30.8m capture of Andrei Shevchenko proving a less-then-successful acquisition. However, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is not a man used to coming second in anything, and will certainly provide Felipe Scolari with unlimited resources to ensure his club does lose out on a signing to a Premier League rival again.

How successful the moves of Robinho and Berbatov will be, only time will tell. But what is certain is that, big money does not always guarantee big success.

Shevchenko’s move to Chelsea is well documented as being a flop, while Gaizka Mendieta‘s £29m move from Valencia to Lazio is thought to be the worst piece of business in Serie A history.

Source:

The Punch Newspaper

September 3, 2008