Robson de Souza (born 25 January 1984 in São Vicente, São Paulo State, Brazil), more commonly known as Robinho, is a Brazilian professional footballer who currently plays as second striker and winger for Serie A club Milan. He is also a member of the Brazilian national team.
In 1999, at only 15 years of age, Robinho was personally picked by Brazil legend Pelé as his heir apparent and went on to lead Santos to their first Campeonato Brasileiro title since Pelé himself played for the club. Since then he has won another title with Santos and two more with Spanish club Real Madrid. He won the Italian Serie A title in his first season at AC Milan. Robinho has won one Copa América title and two Confederations Cups with Brazil.
In 2002, at the age of eighteen, Robinho signed his first professional contract with Santos in Brazil. He made 24 appearances in his debut season and scoring 1 goal as Santos won the 2002 Campeonato Brasileiro. He reached the final of the 2003 Copa Libertadores with Santos, but lost in the final to Boca Juniors. In 2004, Robinho finished with 21 goals in 37 games and led Santos to win another Campeonato Brasileiro.
His form had brought him to the attention of many European clubs in the summer of 2004, but Robinho remained with Santos after the Brazilian club rejected all offers. However, his form suffered in the 2005 season after his mother, Marina da Silva Souza, was kidnapped by gunmen at her Praia Grande home on 6 November, but she was released unharmed six weeks later after a ransom was paid.
Robinho earned the shirt number 10 for Real Madrid, previously worn by Luís Figo. He ended up making 37 appearances and scored 14 goals in his first season. At the start of the 2006–07 campaign, Robinho and David Beckham were considered too flashy and glamorous and rapidly fell out of favor with new footballing regime instituted by Ramon Calderon and carried out by manager Fabio Capello and he spent much of the first few months of the season as a substitute, this even after being player of the match in the first Clasico against FC Barcelona that year. Only after the winter break did Robinho and Beckham find themselves in the starting eleven and they both played crucial roles as Real Madrid won their thirtieth league title. That title was the third league title of Robinho's career.
However, Capello was subsequently fired and Bernd Schuster was appointed as head coach of Real Madrid. Robinho finished with eleven league goals and eight assists for Madrid in the 2007–08 La Liga season as well as four goals during Real Madrid's UEFA Champions League campaign. Robinho then got injured at the beginning of the second half of the season. He did not recover fully enough to help Madrid against Roma in the Champions League. The week before though, Robinho saved Real Madrid's La Liga title hopes with a clutch two goal performance on 3 March 2008, as Madrid defeated Recreativo away from home. That game kept a resurgent Barcelona at bay and ultimately secured Real Madrid's thirty-first league title and Robinho's fourth.
On 1 September 2008, the final day of the Premier League summer transfer window, Robinho completed a €42.5 million (£32.5m) move to Manchester City F.C., with wages in the region of £160,000 per week on a four-year deal. This occurred on the same day the club was bought out by the Arab investment company Abu Dhabi United Group.
In 1999, at only 15 years of age, Robinho was personally picked by Brazil legend Pelé as his heir apparent and went on to lead Santos to their first Campeonato Brasileiro title since Pelé himself played for the club. Since then he has won another title with Santos and two more with Spanish club Real Madrid. He won the Italian Serie A title in his first season at AC Milan. Robinho has won one Copa América title and two Confederations Cups with Brazil.
In 2002, at the age of eighteen, Robinho signed his first professional contract with Santos in Brazil. He made 24 appearances in his debut season and scoring 1 goal as Santos won the 2002 Campeonato Brasileiro. He reached the final of the 2003 Copa Libertadores with Santos, but lost in the final to Boca Juniors. In 2004, Robinho finished with 21 goals in 37 games and led Santos to win another Campeonato Brasileiro.
His form had brought him to the attention of many European clubs in the summer of 2004, but Robinho remained with Santos after the Brazilian club rejected all offers. However, his form suffered in the 2005 season after his mother, Marina da Silva Souza, was kidnapped by gunmen at her Praia Grande home on 6 November, but she was released unharmed six weeks later after a ransom was paid.
Robinho earned the shirt number 10 for Real Madrid, previously worn by Luís Figo. He ended up making 37 appearances and scored 14 goals in his first season. At the start of the 2006–07 campaign, Robinho and David Beckham were considered too flashy and glamorous and rapidly fell out of favor with new footballing regime instituted by Ramon Calderon and carried out by manager Fabio Capello and he spent much of the first few months of the season as a substitute, this even after being player of the match in the first Clasico against FC Barcelona that year. Only after the winter break did Robinho and Beckham find themselves in the starting eleven and they both played crucial roles as Real Madrid won their thirtieth league title. That title was the third league title of Robinho's career.
However, Capello was subsequently fired and Bernd Schuster was appointed as head coach of Real Madrid. Robinho finished with eleven league goals and eight assists for Madrid in the 2007–08 La Liga season as well as four goals during Real Madrid's UEFA Champions League campaign. Robinho then got injured at the beginning of the second half of the season. He did not recover fully enough to help Madrid against Roma in the Champions League. The week before though, Robinho saved Real Madrid's La Liga title hopes with a clutch two goal performance on 3 March 2008, as Madrid defeated Recreativo away from home. That game kept a resurgent Barcelona at bay and ultimately secured Real Madrid's thirty-first league title and Robinho's fourth.
On 1 September 2008, the final day of the Premier League summer transfer window, Robinho completed a €42.5 million (£32.5m) move to Manchester City F.C., with wages in the region of £160,000 per week on a four-year deal. This occurred on the same day the club was bought out by the Arab investment company Abu Dhabi United Group.
He had previously been linked with a transfer to Chelsea, and he had emphasised his desire to play for the London club up to the eve of the transfer. On 27 August, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon said that the club were "confident" that the transaction would go through, and Madrid had also given their consent for the player to leave.
In an interview with The Guardian, Robinho stated that City being a big club and the presence of friends Jô and Elano were incentives for him to join the team. He made his team debut and scored his very first Premier League goal on 13 September 2008, in a 3–1 home defeat to Chelsea. On 26 October, he scored his first Premier League hat-trick against Stoke City,[ and he scored his first European goal for City in a 3–2 UEFA Cup group stage win over Twente on 6 November. He was given the captain's armband for the match against Hull City, due to Richard Dunne's suspension, which ended in a 2–2 draw.
On 28 January 2010, Robinho returned to his home club Santos, due to moving down the pecking order at Manchester City, joining them on a 6 month loan deal. He had publicly stated that at Manchester City he would play every other game, and because of the upcoming World Cup, he wanted to play every game, and so returned to Brazil with Santos after declining a move to São Paulo. On his return to Santos, Robinho scored a backheel against aforementioned admirers São Paulo with five minutes to spare to complete a 2–1 victory for the Peixe. In the final match of his loan deal on 4 August, Robinho helped Santos win the Copa Brasil. Although Santos lost 2–1 to Vitória, they won the tie 3–2 on aggregate to win the competition for the first time in their history. Shortly afterwards Robinho stated that he wanted to remain with Santos rather than return to England. However, Manchester City refused to extend the loan deal and Santos failed to make a transfer bid.
On 31 August 2010, Robinho moved to AC Milan from Manchester City for a fee of £27 million (€30 m), signing a four-year contract. He made his debut as a substitute in a 2–0 defeat to newly-promoted Cesena. He started his first game with AC Milan in their 1–0 win over Genoa. He scored his first goal in injury time against Chievo to make the score 3–1 on 16 October 2010. He continued his goalscoring form with a goal the following week in a Serie A match against Napoli on 25 October 2010. He then scored the first goal for AC Milan against Sampdoria but Giampaolo Pazzini equalised on the hour mark to end as a draw.
On 4 December 2010, he scored the second goal for AC Milan against Brescia in their 3–0 win at the San Siro. 8 days later, on 12 December, he again scored the second goal in a 3–0 victory for AC Milan against Bologna. He scored his first goal of 2011 against Bari to give AC Milan a 3–0 victory. On 29 January, he scored against Catania following a deflection from an Ibrahimovic free kick to give A.C. Milan a 1–0 lead, then assisted Ibrahimovic to give AC Milan a 2–0 victory. On 12 February 2011, he scored his first brace for AC Milan against Parma to give AC Milan a 4–0 win. Against Cagilari, Robinho scored a brace in the 37th week of Serie-A on 14 May 2011, leading to celebrations of the Scudetto Winners after the match.
