Football Food For Thought / Dan Fitch / 26 January 2010 /

Every club wants a Brazilian, but it can lead to some close shaves. Dan 'The Betting Man' Fitch takes a look at Robinho and other Brazilian flops.

Back before the days of the National Lottery, EuroMillions and Cash For Gold, the best way for uneducated working class folk to get rich quick, was via a win on the football pools.

The most famous pools winner was Viv Nicholson who won £152,000. Within years she had blown the lot and was being used as a visual punchline on the front cover of The Smiths' Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now.

Whereas once, football made plucky northern housewives rich, these days it's plucky, northern football teams who are quids in, but they're still wasting their money on flashy purchases.

When Manchester City's numbers came up they spent, spent, spent, which ironically, mainly resulted in a plethora of score draws. Their biggest purchase was that of the Brazilian international Robinho. As transfers go, it was the equivalent to splashing out on a luxury sports car that loses half its value as soon as you drive it off the lot.

To say that Robinho was a rash purchase was an understatement. City were taken over by the Abu Dhabi group on the Sunday night and by the Monday had purchased Robinho for £32.5 million.

Mark Hughes was hardly going turn his nose up at the signing, but you got the sense that if he'd have rather made a more pragmatic purchase. City needed quality defenders and strength in midfield, but instead got a very expensive cherry to stick on a cake that always liable to collapse.

It's no surprise that Robinho now looks to be on his way out of City and back to Brazil. He only went there because he was so desperate to leave Madrid and never looked like he could really be bothered to play for City. Mancini's team will be stronger for not having to accommodate him and are available at [2.36] to finish in the top four.

Brazilian footballers tend to be coveted across the globe and are stars in Spain and Italy, but very rarely succeed in the Premier League. Like a Lambourghini on a council estate, they just don't seem to fit in.

The most successful was undoubtedly Juninho at Middlesbrough, but it's perhaps telling that he became a legend in the small pond that is Teeside, rather than in Manchester. Liverpool or London.

Edu and Gilberto Silva were successes at Arsenal, where Denilson is currently a first team regular. Over at Spurs, Gomes has recovered from a terrible start and there are even signs at Liverpool that Lucas may not be a complete waste of money.

However, the success stories tend to be modest ones and are outweighed by the failures. Before Robinho, City were wasting money on Jo. Alfonso Alves was a flop at Middlesbrough, Kleberson a dud at United and Leeds fans still have nightmares about Roque Junior.

A Brazilian in your team is a status symbol that like a personalised number-plate, doesn't tend to mean much. I blame the amount of games that Nike have the national team playing. It seems like every Brazilian footballer has at least one cap.

As evidence I put forward the former Spurs player Gilberto. He joined on the back of the 32 caps he had won for Brazil, but was one of the worst left backs I have ever seen at Tottenham, which is saying something for a club that has fielded Mitchell Thomas, Paolo Tramezzani and Timothee Atouba in the position.

The best Brazilians like Ronaldinho and Kaka have had the chance to come to the Premier League, but have preferred sunnier shores. Until we can attract the very best, don't expect any real Brazilian success stories anytime soon.

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