Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon has confirmed that the club have sold Robinho to Manchester City and that they may try to make a big signing in January...

Chelsea have been chasing the Brazilian for a number of weeks now, with new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari having made it clear that the Real Madrid star, along with Deco, were his two transfer targets upon being appointed as Blues boss.

The 24-year-old finished the season happy with the Spanish champions, but became unsettled when murmurs in the press emerged that he could be used as a makeweight in Madrid's pursuit of Manchester United ace Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, as that move collapsed, Robinho remained open to leaving Madrid, despite their best efforts to keep the player. Coach Bernd Schuster is thought to have always wanted the former Santos star to stay at the club, but higher-ups within the club were willing to let him leave if Cristiano Ronaldo were to arrive.

Chelsea have pursued Robinho very much in the same manner that Madrid chased Ronaldo earlier in the summer, and despite Madrid's disappointment with the Blues' behaviour, the player himself has remained adamant that he wants to leave the club, even arranging a press conference on Sunday to push for a move to Chelsea.

Madrid have remained adamant that no players would be leaving or arriving in the remaining days of the transfer window, but now appear to have changed their tune as City, who were taken over by Abu Dhabi Group for Development and Investment today, now have even more money than they did under Thaksin Shinawatra, who sold the club today after just over a year in charge. The Citizens will now sign Robinho for a reported British record transfer fee of €42 million - despite missing out on Dimitar Berbatov to rivals Manchester United - and offer the forward a staggering €6 million per year, after tax.

"We have sold Robinho for reasons of human nature," Calderon told Canal Veo TV. "The fact is that we have accepted an offer for Manchester City, and that he is not going for sporting reasons.

"I can't rule out a new signing in December, now that [without Robinho] we have a free slot. But right now there's nobody in the market that we can move for."

The club have also officially announced the deal on their official website: "Real Madrid Football Club has finally decided this evening to transfer their player, Robson da Souza 'Robinho', to Manchester City."

Tears

It is being reported that Robinho was in tears at the thought of not being allowed to leave the club and threatened to go to Brazil and not return until he was sold.

"Manchester City have made a dramatic late deadline-day swoop for Real Madrid’s Brazilian forward Robinho," read a statement on City's website.

"The deal to bring the 24-year-old was completed shortly before the midnight cut-off point, and he has signed a four-year contract."

One of the best in the world

City boss Mark Hughes could not hide his delight after a successful summer during his first few months at the club. “I am absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to work with such an incredible talent like Robinho," he told the club's website.

"I have said that in order to compete with the best teams in the Premier League we have to be in the market for players of this calibre, and Robinho is undoubtedly one of the best players in the world.

“I am really looking forward to introducing him to the rest of the squad, and to the City fans at the earliest opportunity. This is a real statement of intent as to the ambitions of Manchester City Football Club.”

Sulmaan Ahmad, Goal.com

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Ramón Calderón has revealed that Robinho was never going to be sold if Cristiano Ronaldo joined the club, that he could have signed Kaká and that Real Madrid chose not to sign David Villa and Santi Cazorla.

In a question and answer session in Marca, Los Merengues' president opened up about the club's summer transfer activity and gave his side to all the reports and rumours.

Madrid were foiled in their quest to sign Ronaldo and then saw both Villa and Cazorla sign new contracts with Valencia and Villarreal respectively rather than join Madrid.

"I spoke to (Manchester United director) David Gill and he always said that the club did not want to sell (Ronaldo)," Calderón explained. "I asked him about it, obviously, because I thought we could do something.

"It was the same with (Villarreal president) Fernando Roig when I asked about Santi Cazorla. He said no and that was that.

"With Cazorla, we could have signed him if we had wanted to, but we did not want to pay his buy-out clause five days before the transfer window closes.

"That was why we did not sign him, although Villarreal have seen things differently.

"In the case of Villa they offered him to us for €80m and he was never part of our plans for that amount. I do not understand why that turned out like that."

No Need for Kaká

Calderón then explained that he felt Madrid had the chance to finally sign Kaká, one of the player's he promised in his election mandate, but was told not to make a bid.

"It did not appear that Kaká's position needed strengthening, according to the coaches. I did not enter into it," he continued.

"I have to say that it was a possibility to sign Kaká this summer, but I was told that we did not need him now.

"He may have cost €100m, but I do not think that would have been the price. But those in charge told me not to look into it."

With Robinho's move to Chelsea a looking all set to go ahead earlier this week and now looking doubtful, Calderón explained that he feels the player should have remained calm.

"Personally, I think (saying he wanted to leave) was a mistake and that it was a problem with him. I think his representatives advised him badly and they confused him," the president stated.

"But once it had been said it was my job to defend the interests of the club in the best way that I could.

"We did not consider selling him even if Cristiano had joined. Robinho was not going. It would not have been necessary to sell anyone."

Staying United

The Ronaldo saga dominated the summer at Madrid and Calderón has been keen to put his side of the story across after being accused of helping to unsettle the Manchester United star.

"I have said before that all this came down to a problem of communication more than anything else," he said.

"The media become involved and then we wanted to sort it out with the player and his club. But we became spectators and had no role to play in it all.

"We received the news that player wanted to come to Madrid, but as I said throughout it was down to Manchester United to say whether or not they would sell him.

"The player still has a contract with his club and there is nothing more that we can do. I am not thinking about next summer now because I do not know what could happen.

"We just do not know if he will end up playing here or not. I hope he can, but that is another matter.

"There was no call from Ronaldo saying he was not coming. I do not want to give the impression that we interfered in any way with all this, because we did not.

"The relationship between Manchester United and Real Madrid is magnificent still, although it did bother me that their manager made some comments, but we will remain friends.

"We were pleased to hear that Cristiano wanted to come to Madrid, but it is normal that all the great players would like to play here."

Lucas Brown, Goal.com

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