Robinho’s motives in signing for Manchester City have unsurprisingly been questioned ever since his record £32.5million move from Real Madrid. From Joe public to our own Brazilian midfielder, Deco, everyone’s had an opinion on Robinho’s last minute change of direction. Now, it would seem it’s Michael Ballack’s turn.

Of the Brazilian’s decision to sign for City, Ballack says “It is up to each player what they do, but if I were him, I would not have gone to Manchester City.  A transfer from Real Madrid to Manchester City is hard to justify with sporting reasons. I certainly do have a good contract here, but my career progressed. I did not go from Chemnitz to Bremen, although I had an offer from them, but I went to Kaiserslautern, who had just been promoted because I saw more chances for me to play there. Then I went to Leverkusen and not to Bayern, where I also had a contract awaiting my signature. Then in 2002, I went to Bayern and not Real Madrid, although I had a lucrative offer from them. And now I am at Chelsea, an absolutely huge club in the best league in the world at the moment. I feel very happy with Chelsea and in the city of London and I would happily end my career here.”

Clearly, Chelsea haven’t been immune to spending the odd million or two to build their squad since Abramovich’s arrival, so City can’t be accused of doing anything we haven’t already done. However, Ballack was keen to stress the change in Chelsea’s approach these days with regards to developing homegrown players.

Our German midfielder suggests “This is a club which is growing.  Just look at our youth system and what is happening there. This club is creating a new tradition and it will enjoy lots of success. In 20 years’ time I could say that I was at Chelsea and it is there that I ended my career.”

But whilst I don’t disagree with Ballack, I don’t know why anyone at Chelsea is even bothered about Robinho anymore – he made his decision and he’ll have to live with it.

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