Manchester City ready to let Robinho leave
• City meet with Brazilians's agent
• Club want to recoup large part of £32.5m fee
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 June 2010 20.05 BST
Manchester City have accepted that Robinho wants no further part to play in the Abu Dhabi-led revolution of the club after face-to-face talks today with the player's representatives.
The Brazilian's father, Gilvan de Souza, and agent Evandro de Souza reiterated that Robinho wanted to leave during a meeting with City's chief executive, Garry Cook, and football administrator Brian Marwood in Manchester.
The talks have been described as "amicable" but Cook and Marwood made it clear that City would want to recoup a significant proportion of the £32.5m they paid to sign Robinho from Real Madrid on the day of the Abu Dhabi United Group's takeover in September 2008. The chances of that happening have been heightened by his impressive performances so far in the World Cup, and the 26-year-old is already attracting interest from a number of clubs.
How many of his admirers will be able to afford him remains to be seen, however. Besiktas, for instance, have inquired about his availability but are unlikely to meet the financial requirements. City are determined not to let such a talented if wayward player leave on the cheap and, if no buyer can be found, they will take him back when his loan arrangement with Santos expires on 4 August.
City have already signed Jérôme Boateng for £10.5m from Hamburg as well as putting in place a £25m deal for Barcelona's Ivory Coast international Yaya Touré, who is expected to take a medical examination once he returns from the World Cup.
The most powerful spenders in the Premier League are also getting encouraging signs from Valencia as they try to beat off competition from Chelsea to make the Spanish international David Silva their next high-profile signing. City have offered Valencia €35m and it is now a question of whether they can ease the player's misgivings about joining a club that is not in the Champions League.
Silva's preference was to move to Chelsea but the champions cannot compete with City in financial terms and there was an increasing sense of optimism at Eastlands last night after a day of intensive negotiations behind the scenes.
