MANCHESTER became the epicentre of world football early this morning when City dramatically landed Real Madrid's Robinho in a record £32.5m deal and United finally persuaded Spurs to sell Dimitar Berbatov for £30.7m.
The deals came at the end of a breath-taking day when City, bankrolled by Abu Dhabi United Group’s takeover, beat Chelsea and the deadline in a last-gasp bid to sign the Brazilian.
After tabling a British record fee of over £30million for Berbatov, the Blues switched targets to Robinho once it became clear the Bulgarian had his heart set on Old Trafford.
A frantic afternoon saw Berbatov spend time at United's Carrington training complex and then Old Trafford before he was then taken to a nearby hospital for a medical.
With no problems reported, he returned to Old Trafford, where he was greeted warmly by Sir Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill to begin a nervous wait to see if a deal could be done that would see Berbatov wear the No9 shirt vacated by Louis Saha.
The Bulgarian joins in a four-year deal that also takes Fraizer Campbell to Spurs for the rest of the season on loan.
Berbatov said: "Joining United is a dream come true for me. I look forward to playing my part in helping this club win more honours in the years to come."
Meanwhile City boss Mark Hughes said: "I am absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to work with such an incredible talent like Robinho. 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."
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wythenshawe blue, wythenshawe (02/09/2008 at 01:20)
carnt wait for chelesa game.
i heard the rags signed sum moody bulgarian carnt rember his name.
we got Robinho we got Robinho we got Robinho
Ba Ole (20 Legend), Lusaka, Zambia (02/09/2008 at 02:56)
Jose O Arroyo (02/09/2008 at 04:14)
Drew Peacock, Hulme (02/09/2008 at 05:21)
BluePhoenix, Cheltenham (02/09/2008 at 06:21)
Tony Towers, Manchester (02/09/2008 at 07:54)
"Three Stars on a shirt
FA Cup still gleaming
Thirty years of hurt
Never stopped me dreaming
So many jokes, so many sneers
But all those oh-so-nears
Wear you down
Through the years
But I still see that tackle by Bell
And when Frannie scored
Doyle belting the ball
And Buzzer Dancing
I know that was then
But it could be again
It's coming home
It's coming
Football's coming home
It's coming home
It's coming home
It's coming
Football's coming home
The puking budgie, Manchester, Cheadle (02/09/2008 at 08:05)
jerseyblue, jersey (02/09/2008 at 08:50)
At least you paid more due to city and added to ya debt!
Cyprus Red, Cyprus (02/09/2008 at 08:58)
Ian (02/09/2008 at 09:05)
Ralphmilneshead (02/09/2008 at 09:11)
Wait till those Robinho realises he's not signed for United!
redsy (02/09/2008 at 09:16)
United have always struggled to attract the worlds top players, so how City think they are gonna manage it is beyond me!
Sir Reginald Ringpull, A-u-L, Lancashire (02/09/2008 at 09:39)
"i heard the rags signed sum moody bulgarian carnt rember his name"
Ribena and he are very similar, In fact they both said "How great it would be to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo"!!!!
Mr C, Swinton (02/09/2008 at 10:20)
City the new rags.
StretfordBLUE, America (02/09/2008 at 11:16)
Hilal Sued, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (02/09/2008 at 11:31)
And a word of advice to City: I think MH should tell his Arab bankroller to consult with him before purchasing players, as the coach knows which dept needs what player. Robinho is perhaps OKAY in missing out playing in the prestigious CL. But when City's new billionaire says he also wants Villa, Gomez, Ronaldo (the Brazilian) and Thiery Henry in the squad, it shows he's only after showing off his ability to throw money around and not to bring success to the Blues. It's ony an advice, dont pulverise me.
Ralphmilneshead (02/09/2008 at 11:42)
Grief Tourist (02/09/2008 at 12:23)
Electricelano, Ireland (02/09/2008 at 12:27)
He is very quick with good awareness and feet so the pace of the england game will not be a problem,
The only question is his ability to adapt to the strength of the english game, Examples for this would be Elano, ronaldo, eduardo and petrov. none of these are juggernauts by any stretch of the imagination, but all have adapted to the premier league well. I know for a fact from being a (now delighted) city fan as well as being a long time admirer of real madrid which started with my respect for the amazing Zidane that robinho is stronger than elano and ireland and as strong as Petrov.
So it would seem his move will be a success despite the jealous sneers and remarks like "one player doesnt make you great" Thats right it doesnt but we have a loyal fanbase a fantastic stadium and we havent only bought one player we have bought several top class players;Kompany(22),Jo(21),Robinho(24),Shaun Wright-Phillips(26),Zabaleta(watch the olympics and La Liga he is a class act 23yrs old), as well as squad strengthening with players like ben-haim and berti. We only lost one good player and replaced him with an equal or better. Robinho will be a talisman, our fabregas, our gerrard, our lampard, our ronaldo. He is no shevchenko, shevchenko didnt have the quick feet or the awareness for the premier league, he had no problem with the strength but the pace was too much for him, he was old and as they say you cant teach an old dog new tricks. Robinho will have youth on his side, will have no problem with the pace andHe is has undoubted world class talent.Robinho is our talisman, a symbol of the new era, a new dawn, a blue moon rising. The rollercoaster is going up and its going higher than ever before.
Ian The Blue, Levenshulme, Manchester (02/09/2008 at 12:32)
THE BLUE MONKEY, bolton (02/09/2008 at 12:42)
Drew Peacock, Hulme (02/09/2008 at 13:02)
Manchester by Day (02/09/2008 at 13:30)
Unfortuanetly we'll not see the bubble burst at this level - but in the coming years lower league and international football will die.
Mullet Vision (02/09/2008 at 15:55)
The unpalatable truth, Manchester (02/09/2008 at 16:23)
They simply fail to realise that the football world changed overnight.
That was is no longer.
That ANY player is now within the reach of us. That no-one could compete..until Roman acme along to give them a slap..And now the good doctor has repeated the medicine..with interest.
The ultimate rag nightmare of poor fergie and his debt-ridden club trying to repel a bid of £120million for the diver is upon them in January.I couldn't care less whether we get him or not to be honest-it'll be worth it just to watch them all crumbling into dust with disbelief.
Start the countdown.
You rags know it's coming.And there is NOTHING you can do to stop it.