Battle Lines Drawn With Man City?

 

After a summer long battle for Robinho, who as just about everyone on the planet knows ended up signing for the club he hadn’t announced his adoration for, the links with him just refuse to go away.

 

This time, it’s Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari prompting the press to get carried away, by hinting he’d be open to yet another change of heart by the Brazilian. Following hot on the heels of Robinho allegedly shunning Chelsea by suggesting he wanted to be the best player in the world—whilst at City, Scolari has apparently responded by saying: 

 

“I am sure that Robinho would be the best player in the world if he came to play at Chelsea. The Chelsea doors are always open to him.”

 

However, what Scolari wants and what Scolari might get are clearly two different things because firstly, we continue to hear about the lack of funds being made available to the Chelsea boss, so a player valued at over £32 million doesn’t look to be on the cards. But maybe more importantly than that are the suggestions that the Chelsea owner would let any deals with Man City happen over his dead body.

 

You see, there has been the odd whisper lately of them with the dosh at City planning to lure Wayne Bridge to Middle Eastlands with the usual promise of a bigger bank balance plus the added bonus of regular first team football. Bridge signed a four year contract with Chelsea in the summer putting him on sum of around a reported £85,000 a week, whilst the Arabs are reportedly happy to pay closer to £120,000 a week if he fancies a change of location in January. They obviously had not thought about the strength of feeling they had created when pinching a player Chelsea had spent month upon month in negotiations with over a possible deal to bring him to the club.

So, with Abramovich still reported to be foaming at the mouth over the deadline day loss of a player he’d coveted since Mourinho was at the club, he’s rumoured to have suggested that even the ridiculously rich Abu Dhabi Group don’t have enough money in the bank to persuade him to do business with them.