Reuters Soccer Blog

Are AC Milan now Serie A favourites?

As the dust settles after the end of the transfer window, Italian soccer fans are gradually coming to terms with a possible shift in power at the top.

No one is outwardly saying it, but whispers and hints abound. AC Milan may finally have a squad capable off wrestling the title off Inter Milan after five long years.

Owner Silvio Berlusconi decided to loosen the purse strings and recruiting Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho has seriously spiced up Milan’s front line, at a time when Inter decided not to invest at all and rely on last term’s treble winners minus Mario Balotelli.

It is easy to see former Inter man Ibra fitting straight into Milan’s system in the middle of a front three also containing Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato. I reckon Robinho has been bought from Manchester City to be a reserve for either Ronaldinho or Pato, who’ve had their injury problems of late.

Besides Robinho’s troubles at City, the only downside to Milan’s transfer business which I can see is that the decision to let strikers Marco Borriello and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar leave for AS Roma and Schalke means there is only 37-year-old Filippo Inzaghi remaining as a substitute target man in case anything happens to Ibrahimovic. 

Inter are probably in a similar situation though with only Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito and Goran Pandev recognised as established forwards in their squad and if they all start then what options are there for the bench?

Is Guardiola the man to tame Robinho?

“Of course I would like to play for Barca, who wouldn’t? We could have a lot of fun. It would be a pleasure to play with Messi, with my colleague Alves, with Xavi, Iniesta, Ibrahimovic, with all of them. They are a brilliant team.

“I have played against them and I know their quality. But at the moment I can only do it on my Playstation.”

Manchester City’s gifted but controversial Brazilian forward Robinho was thus quoted in Barcelona-based newspaper El Mundo Deportivo on Thursday.

According to the paper and its fellow Catalan sheet Sport, Robinho could join Pep Guardiola’s European champions on loan in January and has asked City for permission to leave.

Sport reported on Tuesday the deal would cost Barca 3.2 million euros ($4.8 million) and they would assume the payment of his current annual salary of 6.2 million.

A transfer had also been mooted, according to Sport, that would see Barca pay City 35 million euros and Robinho agree a contract through 2014.

Robinho, full name Robson de Souza, told El Mundo Deportivo he knew nothing about a possible deal.

How to frustrate Brazil — by Robinho

Robinho was so keen to rub it in after Brazil’s 3-0 win over Chile on Sunday that he inadvertently gave some invaluable advice to Bolivia, their opponents in Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier.

Having daubed graffiti on the wall of Brazil’s dressing-room in Santiago – ”There must be respect for the best national team in the world,” he wrote – Robinho then proceeded to tell the Chilean players where they had gone wrong.

“Maybe if they had played more defensively, they would have made it more difficult for us. But they tried to play us on equal terms and you saw the result,” he said.

It was sound advice. Bolivia did exactly what Robinho suggested and ground out a 0-0 draw in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.

It is no coincidence that Brazil’s two best results in their two years under Dunga — Sunday’s win over Chile and their 3-0 defeat of Argentina at the Copa America final last year — have come against teams who have gone out to attack them.

On both occasions, Brazil survived some early pressure and then sliced through their opponents with counter-attacks of stunning precision.

In addition to their lethal finishing, Brazil used their physical prowess and repetitive midfield fouling to bully their opponents into submission.

Have Real Madrid lost their transfer market mojo?

Have the nine-times European champions Real Madrid lost their pulling power, or did they just play the market badly this time?

They put all their eggs (well, most of them) in one basket to land Cristiano Ronaldo but only succeeded in upsetting Robinho when he found out they might sell him to help finance the deal.

They then failed to convince Robinho to sign an improved contract and with time running out they couldn’t persuade David Villa to move from Valencia or Santi Cazorla to leave Villarreal.

Now they start the new Primera Liga season low on resources, at least in attack. Midfielder Rafael van der Vaart is their one major signing and if he stays fit for any length of time he could be a very useful one. But will it be enough win the trophy all Real fans want and expect – their tenth European Cup?

Raul, 31, and Ruud van Nistelrooy, 32, are getting long in the tooth and as back-up they only have Gonzalo Higuain, who shows potential but not a killer instinct, and Javier Saviola, who hardly played at all last year.

They have one proven winger Arjen Robben, who is injury prone, while Royston Drenthe has yet to set the flanks alight.

Vlog on the pitch — transfer deadline day

Owen Wyatt is joined by a sober-shirted Jon Bramley to discuss the deadline day transfer deals.

Will Manchester United be unstoppable now they have added Dimitar Berbatov to their line-up? Can Robinho cope with the whole rough and tumble of life in the Premier League? And speaking of which, are Manchester City the new Chelsea?

Feel free to leave your comments below, or send us a video of your own looking at this or any other issue in football. Let us know the url and if we like it we’ll host it right here.

Another false dawn for City?

Manchester City fans aren’t used to breaking the British transfer record, but that was the headline that turned up after pub closing time once the Robinho deal had been completed. Despite what we might have feared, it wasn’t just the effect of the beer either.

The new owners, Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, immediately impressed supporters by trying to snub United, which showed intent even if the last-minute bid Dimitar Berbatov did not succeed. Beating Roman Abramovich and Chelsea to Robinho, though, really showed financial muscle.

Great news? Well it would be for most clubs. But those who have suffered through City’s if-you-don’t-laugh-you’d-cry history will not be counting chickens yet.

The last few days have typified the often farcical nature of the club — from seemingly flat broke and relying on short-term loans from directors, with an owner accused of human rights abuses in Thailand, to the richest club in England in just a few hours. 

This is a club that spent most of last season in the top four, only to lose the last match 8-1 to mediocre Middlesbrough; that spent the last few minutes of the 1995-1996 season wasting time to play out a draw when actually they needed a win to avoid relegation; and that, on its return to European competition in 2003, managed to go out to Groclin Dyskobolia despite playing Nicolas Anelka and Robbie Fowler up front.

Supporters haven’t yet forgotten those, or last year’s Thaksin- and Sven-inspired false dawn. A rosy glow from City’s nouveau riche status, the marquee signings and third place in the nascent Premier League table hangs over Eastlands.

But will this one last?