Robinho to Barcelona: It Doesn’t Add Up

The January transfer season began in earnest this week with rumors flying that Manchester City and Barcelona were working on a deal involving Robinho. But chalk it up to pure speculation because this transfer doesn’t make sense for either club. Here are three reasons why:

Barcelona Can’t Come Up with the Cash: Manchester City would want to recoup their £32.5 million investment, but the only clubs able to afford that right now are Real Madrid (where the Brazilian is persona non grata), Chelsea (which is hamstrung by its transfer ban) and Manchester United (which is in fantasyland if they think they can snatch back a star from their crosstown rival.)

Barcelona Won’t Part With Messi. One possibility is a transfer swap, but the names being bandied around by the Spanish press include Thierry Henry, Carlos Puyol, and Eric Abidal. Yet we can’t see Manchester City trading away an immensely talented youngster with his best years in front of him for an over-the-hill player who has two years left in him, tops. And no, Messi is going nowhere.

Robinho is Not Worth the Headache. If Man City are intent on letting the Brazilian go it must be because the player is too much of a distraction. But Pep Guardiola just managed to get rid of his club’s dressing room parasite, Samuel Eto’o. Why would he take a chance on another one – notwithstanding Robinho’s eligibility for the Champions League?

The bottom line… It doesn’t add up. (But then again, neither does Eto’o + £42 million = Ibrahimovic.)