While media rag The Daily Mail broke news that Robinho had sent Manchester City into a “crisis” situation and had runaway from the club they failed to check their facts. Unfortunately young Mr. Robson de Souza was an easy target for the blood-thirsty media looking to “break” a story and the situation was not only blown out of proportion.
Robinho did not walk of camp in a mutinous situation per my inside reports. He, as he has done in the past returned home to Brazil to be with his family. While it is true that he was upset with how the deal to bring Kaká from AC Milan fell through and would like the club to sign a number of other Brazilian players, he is not a “runaway” as the rag reported.
It is his twenty-fifth birthday on Saturday and while he felt he communicated the matter with the club and was under the belief he had approval to go home to be with friends and family.
Further to this news, BBC Sport in an effort to clear up the situation contacted Robinho and inquired about his absence. In response to the situation he said:
“I had made Manchester City aware that I needed to return to Brazil because of a family matter. I will return to the club and hope to sort out this matter as soon as possible.”
While there is definitely a problem related to his absence, much of has to do with poor communication channels within the club from players and administration. As the club grows and looks to bring in talent from around the world, all with varying levels of being able speak English, it needs appropriate administration to monitor contacts.
However with this situation, all reports both documented in the media and internally suggest this situation is easily dealt with and unfortunately embellished by the poor journalistic practices and common fact-checking is performed.
