ARSENAL HAVE UNDERLINED their determination to reclaim the Barclays Premiership title with a £14 million bid for Robinho that may prove high enough to beat Real Madrid to the Brazil forward’s signature.
Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, is said to have seen the 21-year-old Santos player perform for his country against Japan in the Confederations Cup in Germany last week and been impressed. An offer that one of the player’s representatives claims is £3 million above the amount offered by Real Madrid is reputed to have been tabled. Chelsea are believed to have tracked Robinho’s progress but Real were always firm favourites to sign him.
As a teenage prodigy, Robinho was the inspiration behind his club securing their first domestic league title, although he had to deal with a crisis last December when his mother, Marina de Souza, was kidnapped at gunpoint at a garden party. She was released unharmed after 40 days, during which time her son did not play for Santos.
The Brazilian’s arrival would lend support to Wenger’s opinion that Arsenal will recapture the Premiership crown despite the formidable spending power of Chelsea. “I will win back our place at the top of the table by putting into action plans I have been working on,” Wenger said. Those may include the signing of Alexander Hleb, the VfB Stuttgart midfield player, for £6 million.
But Wenger could not have envisaged the absence of Robin van Persie. The Holland forward will appear in court in Rotterdam tomorrow to answer accusations of rape arising from an incident with a 21-year-old woman in the city two weeks ago.
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He has been detained behind bars since then and could be charged tomorrow or held in custody for a further 30 days. If he is charged, he must surrender his passport until his trial, a date for which could be several months distant.