The Worst Signing In Premier League History (by Tony Cascarino)

[13th Duke]

From The Times (UK):

Goodbye and good riddance to the worst signing in Premier League history.



Not the worst player, of course: Robinho is hugely talented. And with 14 goals in the league last term, you couldn’t say he disgraced himself in his debut season in English football. But if there was a statistic that linked cost with commitment, wages with workrate, he would be right at the bottom of the value-for-money table.

Other expensive flops failed in England because they were not good enough, not managed properly or failed to adapt to the life or the style of play.

Juan Sebastián Verón? Just not suited to the Premier League. Andriy Shevchenko? A player in a sharp physical decline. That’s forgivable. He did his best.

Robinho failed because he was uninterested. As a former player who tried to work extra hard to make up for my technical limitations, seeing someone so gifted yet so lazy disgusts me.

To me, he seems to love the lifestyle but not the game. Maybe he felt unhappy in Manchester, but is that a reason not to bother trying on the pitch? Anyway, his problem is attitude, not location. It wouldn’t matter whether he played in Manchester or on the moon.

Everyone in the game knew he was trouble when he was at Real Madrid, but City still jumped in and pinched him from under Chelsea’s noses. What a lucky escape for Chelsea. Workshy, selfish players cause upset in the dressing room.

The signing was supposed to be a statement of intent from City, but it hasn’t projected the image that they’re a big club — just a naive one with more money than sense.

Combine that British record transfer fee with Robinho’s wages and he’s cost a fortune that City cannot hope to recover because no club will pay much for him. In the long term, once his contract with City is finished, his lack of effort will cost him because he’ll have to take a huge drop in wages at his next permanent club.

My prediction for his future? He’ll party hard, play soft, get out of condition and he’ll drift from club to club, perhaps via Turkey and the Middle East, in a slow downward spiral towards obscurity. And in a few years’ time we’ll look back and say: what a waste of talent, what a waste of money.

[K.Dub]

I hope he's wrong.

[Digital Pimpin']

Ah, Tony Cascarino, the cockney Italian who played for Ireland because he said his grandmother was Irish (which turned out later not to be true).

[StreetsAllSalute]

utter drivel....shevchenko was miles worse...

[13th Duke]

Ah, Tony Cascarino, the cockney Italian who played for Ireland because he said his grandmother was Irish (which turned out later not to be true).

haha aye thats the one. Played all his football for some crazy french team like RC Strasbourg or something. Hardly an expert.

I just thought I'd put the article up as it was quite interesting.

[13th Duke]

utter drivel....shevchenko was miles worse...

He kind of touched upon that.

I think its clear as day Shevchenko was the worst ever premiership signing in terms of value for money against goal return for a striker. What the writer is stating is that Shevchenko was just shit....Robinho WASNT shit but just couldn't be arsed (ie. Shevchenko just couldnt cut it in the premiership...Robinho could but didnt due to his bad attitude).

Its sensationalism really as its obvious he isnt the worst of all time but I get what he means. Robinho was a very selfish player and still is and any club he goes to he causes trouble. It was the same at Real Madrid when he was there.

[13th Duke]

One thing about Robinho I will say thats positive is...without Robinho as a flagship signing the rest of the stars may not have followed. He was the one that made everyone stand up and think 'fuck, City might actually go places'. It was a great statement of intent.

Obviously you can argue the big first signing would have come anyway considering the money being thrown about, but someone needed to join and Robinho had the balls to do it (or simply stupidity and greed whichever way you look at it!).

So as a goal return and performance on the pitch he may ahve been a flop considering the transfer fee, but in terms of what his signing meant for the club it was probably one of the most groundbreaking moments in Manchester City's history because it was the first time they truly showed world class ambition.

[StreetsAllSalute]

utter drivel....shevchenko was miles worse...

He kind of touched upon that.

I think its clear as day Shevchenko was the worst ever premiership signing in terms of value for money against goal return for a striker. What the writer is stating is that Shevchenko was just shit....Robinho WASNT shit but just couldn't be arsed (ie. Shevchenko just couldnt cut it in the premiership...Robinho could but didnt due to his bad attitude).

Its sensationalism really as its obvious he isnt the worst of all time but I get what he means. Robinho was a very selfish player and still is and any club he goes to he causes trouble. It was the same at Real Madrid when he was there.

yeah i know what he was getting at...but having a bad attitude dosent make you the worse player....if his article was 'the player with the worst attitude in premier league history' then he would have a point but robinho despite his attitude still turned in quite a few good perfomances certainly more than sheva did

[13th Duke]

utter drivel....shevchenko was miles worse...

He kind of touched upon that.

I think its clear as day Shevchenko was the worst ever premiership signing in terms of value for money against goal return for a striker. What the writer is stating is that Shevchenko was just shit....Robinho WASNT shit but just couldn't be arsed (ie. Shevchenko just couldnt cut it in the premiership...Robinho could but didnt due to his bad attitude).

Its sensationalism really as its obvious he isnt the worst of all time but I get what he means. Robinho was a very selfish player and still is and any club he goes to he causes trouble. It was the same at Real Madrid when he was there.

yeah i know what he was getting at...but having a bad attitude dosent make you the worse player....if his article was 'the player with the worst attitude in premier league history' then he would have a point but robinho despite his attitude still turned in quite a few good perfomances certainly more than sheva did

oh most definitely. I agree with that. But Robinho could have been so much better and threw it all away.

Mind you, theres no reason Robinho can't come back from Santos in 6 months ready for next season and still be a success. He might come back better than ever for all we know so he might get a second chance.

[StreetsAllSalute]

utter drivel....shevchenko was miles worse...

He kind of touched upon that.

I think its clear as day Shevchenko was the worst ever premiership signing in terms of value for money against goal return for a striker. What the writer is stating is that Shevchenko was just shit....Robinho WASNT shit but just couldn't be arsed (ie. Shevchenko just couldnt cut it in the premiership...Robinho could but didnt due to his bad attitude).

Its sensationalism really as its obvious he isnt the worst of all time but I get what he means. Robinho was a very selfish player and still is and any club he goes to he causes trouble. It was the same at Real Madrid when he was there.

yeah i know what he was getting at...but having a bad attitude dosent make you the worse player....if his article was 'the player with the worst attitude in premier league history' then he would have a point but robinho despite his attitude still turned in quite a few good perfomances certainly more than sheva did

oh most definitely. I agree with that. But Robinho could have been so much better and threw it all away.

Mind you, theres no reason Robinho can't come back from Santos in 6 months ready for next season and still be a success. He might come back better than ever for all we know so he might get a second chance.

yeah i dont think he will though if anything the next 6 month is a chance to put himself in the shop window...plus i know robinho is disruptive and does have a poor attitude...but i dont think hughes helped matters by signing just under a 100millions worth of players to play in robinhos prefered position...especially considering he was the owners signing not hughes...obviously mancini dosent really fancy him either...i did say at the time he'd be better off at chelsea

[13th Duke]

utter drivel....shevchenko was miles worse...

He kind of touched upon that.

I think its clear as day Shevchenko was the worst ever premiership signing in terms of value for money against goal return for a striker. What the writer is stating is that Shevchenko was just shit....Robinho WASNT shit but just couldn't be arsed (ie. Shevchenko just couldnt cut it in the premiership...Robinho could but didnt due to his bad attitude).

Its sensationalism really as its obvious he isnt the worst of all time but I get what he means. Robinho was a very selfish player and still is and any club he goes to he causes trouble. It was the same at Real Madrid when he was there.

yeah i know what he was getting at...but having a bad attitude dosent make you the worse player....if his article was 'the player with the worst attitude in premier league history' then he would have a point but robinho despite his attitude still turned in quite a few good perfomances certainly more than sheva did

oh most definitely. I agree with that. But Robinho could have been so much better and threw it all away.

Mind you, theres no reason Robinho can't come back from Santos in 6 months ready for next season and still be a success. He might come back better than ever for all we know so he might get a second chance.

yeah i dont think he will though if anything the next 6 month is a chance to put himself in the shop window...plus i know robinho is disruptive and does have a poor attitude...but i dont think hughes helped matters by signing just under a 100millions worth of players to play in robinhos prefered position...especially considering he was the owners signing not hughes...obviously mancini dosent really fancy him either...i did say at the time he'd be better off at chelsea

yeah definitely. With Tevez, Adebayor, Santa Cruz AND Robinho all 15mil plus players you're bound to get a few unhappy people.

[StreetsAllSalute]

utter drivel....shevchenko was miles worse...

He kind of touched upon that.

I think its clear as day Shevchenko was the worst ever premiership signing in terms of value for money against goal return for a striker. What the writer is stating is that Shevchenko was just shit....Robinho WASNT shit but just couldn't be arsed (ie. Shevchenko just couldnt cut it in the premiership...Robinho could but didnt due to his bad attitude).

Its sensationalism really as its obvious he isnt the worst of all time but I get what he means. Robinho was a very selfish player and still is and any club he goes to he causes trouble. It was the same at Real Madrid when he was there.

yeah i know what he was getting at...but having a bad attitude dosent make you the worse player....if his article was 'the player with the worst attitude in premier league history' then he would have a point but robinho despite his attitude still turned in quite a few good perfomances certainly more than sheva did

oh most definitely. I agree with that. But Robinho could have been so much better and threw it all away.

Mind you, theres no reason Robinho can't come back from Santos in 6 months ready for next season and still be a success. He might come back better than ever for all we know so he might get a second chance.

yeah i dont think he will though if anything the next 6 month is a chance to put himself in the shop window...plus i know robinho is disruptive and does have a poor attitude...but i dont think hughes helped matters by signing just under a 100millions worth of players to play in robinhos prefered position...especially considering he was the owners signing not hughes...obviously mancini dosent really fancy him either...i did say at the time he'd be better off at chelsea

yeah definitely. With Tevez, Adebayor, Santa Cruz AND Robinho all 15mil plus players you're bound to get a few unhappy people.

yep and dont forget bellamy i never understood why hughes bought so many fuckin strikers...it struck me as a bit of 'kid in a candy shop'...really needed a top class attacking midfielder and a winger or two if ida been hughes i would have put offers in for diego and david silva

[KURUPTION-81]

I personally think Robinho has got a hard time from press purely because of the fee (which was decided by the clubs not robinho) and because he is brazilian.

He had a great first season (top scorer), this season it hasnt worked out but he isnt the only player to be dissapointing for them. Bridge/Lescott have been shocking, Adebayor bar the first month of the season hasnt done much and only in the last month or two Tevez has performed (previous to that city fans were caling him a 32 mil paul dickov).  Anyone seen SWP this year ? My point is that its a team game and even though Robinho has gone missing in matches he isnt the only one, he is the type of player who needs an arm round the shoulder and told how great he is. He def hasnt had that from Manchini and its debatable from Hughes.

City know he is a quality player and after the Word Cup they may even keep him or sell him for as much if not more of what they paid. There will be plenty of takers, he is the only city player id like to see at United.

[13th Duke]

If he's the only City player you'd take at United I'm baffled. Robinho has done bot all this season, not even starting half the matches and he hasnt warranted a place because of a mixture of his bad attitude and poor performances. If you think his bad tenure at City has been down to mis-management I'd cite his time at Santos back in 2005 when he forced a move by kicking and screaming and refusing to play for them so he could get a transfer to Europe and then also the time at Madrid when he spat his dummy out for being used initially as a bargaining tool to get Ronaldo from your lot. If he's not centre of attention he's not happy. The kid is bad news.

Also, Strange how you say Tevez has only had to good months yet he has scored over 20 goals in all competitions this year. Thats quite the busy two months!

[KURUPTION-81]

If he's the only City player you'd take at United I'm baffled. Robinho has done bot all this season, not even starting half the matches and he hasnt warranted a place because of a mixture of his bad attitude and poor performances. If you think his bad tenure at City has been down to mis-management I'd cite his time at Santos back in 2005 when he forced a move by kicking and screaming and refusing to play for them so he could get a transfer to Europe and then also the time at Madrid when he spat his dummy out for being used initially as a bargaining tool to get Ronaldo from your lot. If he's not centre of attention he's not happy. The kid is bad news.

Also, Strange how you say Tevez has only had to good months yet he has scored over 20 goals in all competitions this year. Thats quite the busy two months!

Id take robinho because of his ability, he is a matchwinner and the type of player i love to see. He is worth the admission on his own. A good manager will manage him, united have had some huge egos in there time.
 
As for his time at santos i know little about it so i cant really comment. At Real he was pivotal with RVN in them winning the league, then they tried to use him as bargaining chip and force him out. They pretty much treated him like crap, you would be annoyed. Its similar to the way liverpool treated alonso, tried to replace him with someone else and failed then cant understand why the player gets pissed and wants to leave. Madrid had a player who could be as effective as Ronaldo if he was managed correctly. Which goes back to the fact that he needs to be told how great he is.

As for Tevez he has 14 goals in his last 11 starts so that would be about two months worth of matches.