Transfer Rumours: Robinho to India! Is it a good idea??
Over the last couple of days, Brazilian striker Robinho has been heavily linked towards a move to Indian club Quess East Bengal FC, who ply their trade in I League – Indian football’s less glamorous version.
Ever since the Kolkata Giants decided to open arms and invite corporate takeover by conceding majority stakes to Quess Corp. Ltd, keeping in mind the changing needs of modern times, things have been looking great for the Bengal side.
The club has already began making a lot of noise in the otherwise lukewarm transfer market with the signing of Johnny Acosta, who played in the FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia for his country Costa Rica. This big signing was immediately followed by even bigger clamour with reports suggesting former Brazilian striker Robinho being in the clubs radar too.
While there is no doubt about the former Real Madrid and AC Milan striker’s capability, the question that needs answer is that whether the amount of money to be reportedly spent on him really worth it? According to rumours that’s been going around, Robinho, who currently plies his trade at Turkish club Sivasspro, is understood to have agreed on personal terms with East Bengal and has reportedly demanded a 2 million Euros as yearly wage, which could amount to be around 16 crore in Indian rupees. This excludes the transfer amount that the Turkish club Sivasspor would be demanding for the player which is reportedly around another 200,000 Euros i.e. 1.6 crore.
There has been no news yet regarding East Bengal joining Indian Super League yet these big name transfer targets are suggesting otherwise as there is no point in spending so much amount of money for CFL, I League and potentially Super Cup tournament which gets half as much exposure as Indian Super League single handledly gets. Even if the red and gold’s are to join Indian Super League, the 16 crore wage is just too much of money poured in to one 34 year old player who is also accused of a sex offence and as a arrest warrant under is name in Italy.
The Brazilian star has fared at par to his talent and age, having scored 4 goals along with making 3 assists for his side in 14 games in the Turkish Super League. However this ambitious signing is quite unnecessary for red and golds considering the fact that most of the major impact foreign players in last season of ISL – Coro, Miku, Lanzarote, Edu Garcia, Raphael Augusto, Marcelinho etc were paid less than 5 crore a year. Besides, East Bengal already has an established fan base that rallies behind the club; they don’t need big name players to attract fans. Even an announcement of joining ISL will be enough for fans to fill the Salt lake Stadium to its brim.
It has been reported that despite the majority stakes with Quess, the final decision on club activities still rest on East Bengal management. With finance no longer an issue, the management has shown complete willingness to splurge on big name players.
Despite his age, Robinho remains capable of producing match-winning results and if he delivers likewise he can definitely turn out to be one of the most significant signings for East Bengal FC but if he fails then the 16 crore wages could come back to sting them and leave a major scarce in future transfers of the club.
– An opinion piece
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