Deadline Day: Robinho Gone (For Good)

As the 2010 transfer window slams shut (watch your fingers), City have made just a few changes to the squad — which is understandable considering the magnitude of spending already embarked upon by the club this summer.

The major protagonist in transfer deadline day proceedings two years ago to the day, Robinho, has been involved in another last-minute deal — this time signing for AC Milan in a deal thought to be worth around £20million.

The skill of Robinho cannot be questioned — his complete control in the 6-0 win over Portsmouth is one of the best individual performances ever witnessed at Eastlands.

It's ironic that at the time Robinho was playing his best football (August to December 2008), was actually when as a team, we were at our worst. After crashing to a 2-1 defeat at West Brom in late December, City sat 18th in the League. Conversely, when Robinho failed to score for the next few months (and with the assistance of January signings), we made a late charge up the table.

We have seen this all before as City fans. Georgiou Kinkladze was arguably the most skillful player on the ball to have played for Manchester City, however, we were relegated twice with him in the team — but after he was sold, we soon earned successive promotions. Having a big fish in a small pond does not make for a good football team.

Robinho may well thrive at AC Milan, along side fellow Brazilians Ronaldinho and Pato. He'll also be given an age on the ball in Serie A, compared to the Premier League. As long as he doesn't have to play away games, or at night, or in the cold, he'll be a success I'm sure.

His career will always be blighted by the fact he was unable to make it at Real Madrid, or under two separate managers at Manchester City. If he was truly world-class, he would have stuck it out and earned his first team place back — not disappeared to the sunny climes of Santos to play kick-about with his mates.

An amazing footballer, but a coward on and off the pitch.

In other news, occasional footballer and wannabe rapper Felipe "Xzhibit" Caicedo, went out on loan to Spain for the second time in as many seasons, signing for Levante UD (who looking at their club badge, are a merger between Valencia and Barcelona).

Asamoah Gyan, who scored four goals for Ghana in the World Cup (but missed a penalty in the dying seconds against Uruguay), joined Sunderland for £13million. It's a shame he didn't sign for them a week earlier — we might have picked up a point on the weekend if he had!

That old wheeler-and-dealer Arry Redknapp (oh come on Arry, I didn't mean it like that!) got up to his old tricks, and may just have snagged Real Madrid midfielder and World Cup runner-up Rafael Van Der Vaart for the cut-price fee of £8million — despite Bayern Munich close to signing the player for over twice that amount the day before.

For that price, he could have got half a Roque Santa Cruz (I assume you'd want the top half, as the bottom half is knackered), or one homeless Portuguese third-division player, so it's a good bit of business from 'Ol Twitcher if true.

So, no Dzeko, no Torres, and no Luiz, but a successful transfer window nevertheless. If we're there and thereabouts in the League come January, I can see another addition or two to get us over the line.