Brazilian star Robinho has pleaded his innocence today after being accused of raping an 18-year-old last month.

LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Britain’s most expensive footballer Robinho has denied any wrongdoing or criminality after his arrest over allegations of serious sexual assault.

A statement issued on the 25-year-old Brazil and Manchester City striker’s website (wwww.robinhoofficial.com) on Wednesday said Robinho denied the accusations and was happy to cooperate with police.

Robinho, who played the whole 90 minutes and created one of Manchester City’s goals in a 2-1 Premier League win over Newcastle United on Wednesday, had been arrested in connection with a sexual assault on an 18-year-old woman in a night club in the northern English city of Leeds two weeks ago.

“We can confirm that Robinho met the police today, as pre-arranged and as part of a criminal investigation,” the player’s spokesman Chris Nathaniel said in the statement.

“He strenuously denies any allegation of wrongdoing or criminality and is happy to cooperate with the police if required further.”

West Yorkshire police confirmed the arrest but in line with British policing policy did not name Robinho.

“A man was arrested in connection with an alleged serious sex assault at a nightclub in Leeds on January 14. He was questioned and bailed pending further inquiries,” a police spokeswoman said.

Manchester City said they had been helping the player and the authorities in the investigation.

“No charges of any nature have been brought against the player and no further statement will be made whilst the investigation is continuing,” the club said on their website.

Robinho, whose full name is Robson de Souza, became Britain’s most expensive player when he joined Manchester City from Real Madrid in September for 32 million pounds ($45.15 million).

The signing of the Brazilian, who has scored 12 goals this season, demonstrated Manchester City’s sky-high ambition after the club was taken over by an Abu Dhabi-based group, turning it into the world’s richest club.

Robinho Tells Dunga: I Am Innocent

Globo Esporte reports that the Manchester City player spoke to Brazil coach Dunga this week, and told him that he is not guilty.

The former Real Madrid player has been accused of raping the girl in a nightclub on January 14, and was held by police.

However, he was released on bail, and has returned to training with Manchester City this week.

Robinho has been called up by Dunga for the friendly against Italy, which takes place next month at the Emirates Stadium.

A spokesman for the player confirmed that he had been taken by police, but that he was not guilty of raping the girl.

The incident caps off a dramatic month for the Brazilian, who is also going to be fined by Manchester City for leaving their training camp last week.

It was rumoured that he stormed off once he found out Kaká would not be joining the English side, although that has been denied.

Manchester City take on Newcastle this evening in what is surprisingly a relegation clash in the Premier League.

Sunil Chhetri’s Coventry City trial could have on Indian football and asks whether it could inspire the nation…..

Saturday evening at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Sunil Chhetri quickly walks out of the East Bengal dressing room and marches towards his car. Yours truly runs towards him and asks him for his views on his trials at Coventry City.

The young Sunil doesn’t say much, merely uttering, "Let’s see. I have no idea how it is going to turn out there" in an attempt either not to flare up expectation or raise hype or not to tempt fate. Or maybe both. He is followed by two or three teenage East Bengal supporters who fall all over him just for a handshake or two.

He gets into the backseat of the car and shuts the door. The car is about to kickstart into action when the woman who sells ‘lodgens’ (local chocolates costing a rupee or two, sometimes even less) comes near the door.

She is an East Bengal supporter through and through and wears the club’s colours proudly on herself. Everyone at the Salt Lake Stadium knows her; perhaps they know her better than then they know Sunil. She comes near Sunil’s car but queerly doesn’t try to sell anything.

Far from it, she actually blesses him in the same way that your mother would bless you on the day of his final board exam: kissing him, ruffling his hair and praying for him to the Lord, an amalgamation of deep concern and exotic hope etched on her face. Sunil is in a hurry - he has got packing to do, then has a flight to catch for Delhi and has a heck load of thoughts whirling in his head: after all he is flying off to England for what is easily the biggest thing that has ever happened to him and possibly Indian football as well, but he allows for this weirdly touching ceremony to continue. For a couple or so minutes. And then his car vanishes into the dim distance.

Maybe this is one more instance of romanticism colouring what is quite a normal occurrence in India but if any picture could portray Mother India showering blessings on her son then it is this: the middle-aged lady who almost literally ‘eats, lives and drinks’ East Bengal and lives her life off football (but not in the way that most would prefer) blessing an Indian son out to conquer the world as it seems.

Perhaps she doesn’t exactly comprehend the magnanimity of Sunil’s adventure in Coventry. Perhaps for her, Sunil is traveling to play in a foreign land and after some time (read some years) he would return to grace the shirt of her beloved East Bengal again. Perhaps she doesn’t even know what or where England is. And perhaps she doesn’t realize that Sunil’s success in the Coventry trials would actually hurt East Bengal (since the Kolkata giants would lose a very crucial player).

She is naive, innocent, untainted by the evil that knowledge brings. But if she could really realize what Sunil’s quest in England actually implies, she would know that this is big. Very, very big. Huge, actually.

When Goal.com ran the exclusive about the Indian international striker going for trials at Championship side Coventry City this week, there was a considerable degree of pleasant surprise and optimism. After all, it is not everyday that an Indian footballer is asked for a trial in England and that too for a club that is in a division immediately below the much-cherished Premier League.

Sunil’s call to play in the Championship for a side coached by the former Fulham and Real Sociedad boss Chris Coleman ought to be perceived as a new dawn for Indian football although since the late 1990s and especially since the turn of this century football in India has been gaining popularity.

But it has mostly been European football, especially the Premier League that has been capturing the Indian football market. While Indians have grown used to watching and discussing the European game, most are not keen to take up football as a profession. Perhaps it is because Indian football is not very lucrative or perhaps because no one sincerely believes that he can be a new Bhaichung Bhutia but the bottom line is that most followers of football in India are passive and not active followers.

They would unconditionally follow the Manchester Uniteds or the Real Madrids, fight over ‘their clubs’ in bars and colleges, call themselves "Gunners for Life’ or ‘Cules’ but when it comes to taking up the sport as a profession, they would shrink their tails between their legs and scamper to the safe zone of an Engineering or an MBA degree.

Sunil’s venture to England should certainly exhibit that dreams can be realized. Maybe when he was a kid, he had impossibly imagined himself playing in Europe but now that he is on the verge of fulfilling that ambition, maybe the others could emulate him.

But perhaps more importantly his venture to England would inform the more established footballing world that an Indian can play football and be good at it too. India’s rise as a global superpower has opened its economy and culture, mostly for the better, and while cricket is still the main sport, the sporting culture is changing, although gradually.

Should Sunil Chhetri impress at the trials at Coventry he would be given a contract and play for the Championship side. This in turn would demonstrate to other clubs in England and elsewhere that talent in India is present, that even though India is still a cricket dominated society, football is massive here.

These clubs, forever in the hunt for ‘new and upcoming talent’ would be cajoled to tap into the Indian footballing market and search for a new Sunil Chhetri. India has almost an obsession with foreigners and foreign investment and the country would welcome with open arms the clubs and organizations interested in pulling out budding Indian footballers to foreign shores. Sunil’s success in his trials would put India on the footballing map.

January’s FIFA rankings put the Indian national football team at 142nd, giving an outsider the idea that football here in India is improving at a snail’s pace. But if Sunil is able to earn a contract at Coventry, it would indeed dismiss that idea.

Sunil’s trial starts this week and lasts for seven days. What lies ahead is enveloped in the impenetrable blanket of time. No one knows how exactly it is going to pan out for Sunil and all India can do is hope for this Golden Boy of Indian football to shine in England.

Go Sunil go! Make your nation proud. A billion people are looking at you with desperate eagerness and optimism.

In yet another twist to the saga, the Russian superstar has been issued with a warning that buying out his contract will not bring him the solution he seeks...


As Andrei Arshavin continues to seek an exit route from Zenit St Petersburg to Arsenal, one potential avenue of departure has been closed to him.

The player could, under FIFA rules, buy out the rest of his contract and be free to walk away from the Russian outfit. Player's can use FIFA's Article 17 to walk away from their contracts after what is termed a 'protected period', usually set at three years, as long as they pay acceptable compensation to their club.

Arshavin will be eligible to buy out his contract in November, and walk away from Zenit 'on the cheap'. However, the Russian outfit's general director Maxim Mitrofanov has added to the war of words that is rapidly developing between him and the player, by claiming that there is a 'gentleman's agreement' in place amongst big clubs that would prevent Arshavin adopting such a course of action. It also contravenes FIFA rules.

'Yes, according to the laws of FIFA, at the end of the so-called ‘protected period’, the player has the right to unilaterally suspend the agreement by paying compensation to the club," Mitrofanov told Russian newspaper Sovetski Sport.

"But there is a nuance. The leading clubs in Europe, in order to protect themselves from such cases, agreed not to take on players who left the previous place of work using this rule. Formally, this agreement has not been laid down, but it exists.

"If Arshavin breaks the contract, he cannot be accommodated at a top club, to which he says he is seeking a move. So it is unprofitable for him."

Only one player is known to have used the loophole - Andy Webster moving from Heart of Midlothian to Wigan Athletic in 2006 - although Ronaldinho was rumoured to be considering a similar move when weighing up a move to Chelsea from Barcelona recently.

It was reported in the summer that there was some kind of agreement in place that would prevent Ronaldinho’s move to England, and Mitrofanov has provided confirmation of it.

Quite how this statement will impinge on the progress of the potential transfer of Arshavin remains to be seen.

Antonio Valencia has finally spoke about the rumours surrounding a move to Real Madrid, admitting that every player wants to play in the Champions League...

Wigan Athletic midfielder, Antonio Valencia, has spoken out today about the strong rumours linking him with a move to Real Madrid.

The Ecuador international is reportedly the number one target for Juande Ramos, but with time running out in the transfer window, it seems unlikely that he will join the Spanish club.

However, today, the player gave an indication that he might well join the defending La Liga champions, admitting that he would love to play in the Champions League.

"The dream of every footballer is to play at the highest level, to compete in the Champions League, the height of European football," he told AS.

"When I sit at home and I see the Champions League on the television, I ask myself: why am not I there?"

Valencia has been linked with a move to the Spanish giants for some time now, and he has apparently put in a transfer request at Wigan.

No deal has been done though, with Vicente Boluda believed to be in contact with the club about a loan deal for the player.

If they are to sign him it seems more than likely that it will only be on a loan deal, with the current president not wanting to hamper any plans candidates may have in the elections in the summer.

There is a chance it could be a loan with an option to buy though, and even with a fixed price which would be set now.