Top Stories

Report: Robinho considering swapping Milan for Orlando City

Robinho (Getty)

By RYAN TOLMICH

Despite being nearly a year away from the club’s first MLS game, Orlando City have drawn the interest of AC Milan’s Robinho.

Robinho, who has played for Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Santos throughout his 14 year career, is looking to finish his career in the United States and is interested in joining the Lions ahead of their debut in 2015, according to Italian newspaper Gazzetta Dello Sport. The Brazilian has taken strides towards moving stateside this week in meetings with Milan CEO Adriano Galliani in an effort to mutually end his contract.

If the report is true, Robinho would take an extended break before joining the club ahead of the 2015 MLS season. The report states that Brazilian club Flamengo are also interested in acquiring the forward.

If the move comes to fruition, Robinho may be joined by Milan and Brazil teammate Kaka, who has been in negotiations with club representatives.

What do you think of this report? Would you like to see Robinho in MLS?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. i’ve always said i see him coming to MLS in 2015. whether it was to NYCFC or Orlando. with NYC, he has the City ties and with Orlando he has the Brazilian ties. i think him and Kaka in Orlando would be a fantastic way to start.

    Reply
  2. Dude still looks like a teenager. I would not have guessed he was 30. I remember one of his last games with Man City when he came on as a sub and got subbed out before the game was over. He was not injured the coach was just not too happy with his efforts. Mark Hughes brought him and Jo in for some crazy transfer money and that didn’t work out so well.

    Reply
  3. Robinho, Kaka and maybe Pato could come to Orlando: proper salary, other big name DPs, and Orlando is biggest Brazilians community in SouthEast.

    Reply
    • Still doesnt mean brazilians will show up to the games.. Every brazilian I know works at Amici’s pizza and the girls are all nanny’s. They dont have the $$$ to afford an MLS game.

      Reply
      • You act like MLS matches are expensive. My lower level 1st row season tickets on the Endline at RBA is $340

      • I thought the stranger part of his comment was acting like he knows every Brazilian in Orlando….

  4. there are reports that in Italy major cities you get robbed at gun point even if youre a famous footballer. it seems that ONLY the bad guys have the firearms.

    It seems to be a trend with Argentinians that come to MLS, they move their entire families to the US, pretty much they want to settle in the states when theyre done with their careers.

    Maybe Brazilians might start doing the same and down the road we’ll have very good American footballers with south american pedigree…. just my opinion.

    Reply
    • I like the players like Henry that seem to want to live, play, and maybe even retire here. Particularly if they come here with gas in the tank those are our best players and ambassadors.

      Reply
  5. Kaka n robinho to orlando, boom 🙂
    Just go for julio cesar as well and pato and ronaldinho 🙂
    By the way im surprised galaxy rather go for lampard than ronaldinho wtf and no one goes for chicharito
    Fire should go for chicharito

    Reply
      • he does want to leave and only Aston Villa have been linked with him thus far. but the WC could easily change that.

      • In all respect to soccer fans who follow mexican players in Europe, chicharito won’t make it in Europe as a foward or even winger, Mexico only produces good defenders and goalkeepers. As a matter of fact, Mexico is starting to get good players with good height, not like before but this years team is going to have a negative difference in height since the coach went for average height players.
        Back to the chicharito topic, mexican forwards don’t make it in Europe and will never do, just like American forwards. All Mexico can produce and get respect for is defenders and goalkeepers but not fowards.
        As for gio dosantos, he’s a different breed and Mexico loves him and gio was developed in Barcelona.
        I actually see MLS getting do santos, chicharito, guardado coming to MLS and be better players than Marquez.

      • Dos Santos rejected the Galaxy and Guardado has said several times that he doesn’t plan to leave Europe anytime soon, Chicharito has offers from teams like Inter, Tottenham, Atletico and Valencia, doubt that MLS looks attractive to him when he has said that money doesn’t matter.

      • Chicharito’s problem isn’t that he’s Mexican, IMHO. His problem is that he’s a pure poacher. That’s getting to be a luxury in the modern game. He’s as good a pure finisher as you’ll see, but he doesn’t create his own shot and requires somebody to run off of, and he requires good service.

        Not really sure where he fits, in a modern EPL scheme. Like, if you’ve got a Luis Suarez (or a Kun Aguero) you sort of plug him into the #10 hole and let him roam around, create, take drops…especially when Suarez has a guy like Sturridge up top rampaging around and opening space with his speed, he’s got all sorts of space to collect the ball and do what he does, which is create and go forwards. Chicharito finishes as well as any of those guys…but he isn’t nearly as dangerous in space running at a defender and that’s always going to be his big limitation.

        Honestly the guy he kind of reminds me of is Jermaine Defoe…who was in and out of favor for the English national team setup for years and never really found a permanent spot on an elite EPL team…even with Tottenham he seemed to be in and out of favor depending on the month.

        Chicharito is a good player, and he’d be pure murder on an MLS team, or even a good Liga MX team where he got good service…but is he a true-blood, world-class striker? Haven’t seen it. He’s the #4 or #5 on Manchester United, a situational guy, the guy they tabbed to replace the very similar Michael Owen when he finally limped off the roster.

        That doesn’t mean Mexico can’t produce a top striker, just means it probably isn’t Hernandez. Honestly Oribe Peralta strikes me more as a guy who could make more of an impact in Europe…more complete, more of a make-his-own-shot sort of player, scores in ten different ways. Shame it took him so durn long to figure out how good he was going to be.

    • Ronaldinho looks productive in Brazil, where Lampard is tailing off in CFC. They are both old for a soccer players, likely one and done candidates. I don’t think that kind of player does us much good because we can’t make a big deal for very long of them, which undercuts the value of signing them to the league. Makes us look like a retirement home.

      But the press seems to suggest Lampard is being retained for a year with Terry (groan) while Cole will leave. I think Lampard would be risky for LA but I kinda wanted him out of London. But I think he and Terry do a victory lap and retire Blues. Anything else for them would be silly. They don’t need the money, they’ve won bigger things than a US title.

      Reply
      • If LA is smart, they’ll throw money at a youngster…like, say, Julian Green, and wrap him up the next 5-6 years. Particularly with Donovan winding down his career up they need a new winger/forward with pace and ball skills.

        Bayern didn’t give Green minutes down the stretch, and there was a lot of talk about how Pep wasn’t getting anything out of the youngsters.

        LA might be able to pry him away. I’d go in that direction over Lampard anytime.

        I was a big Charlotte Hornets fan, back in the day. I well-remember when the Hornets drafted Kobe Bryant right out of high school…and then promptly traded him to the Lakers for a 30-something-year-old Vlad Divac.

        If we buy the invective that Green’s the next great talent in American soccer, it’d be dumb to do anything else.

    • Someone gave me his jersey for a gift when I was working in Madrid in ’08. Still have it. Never worn it. Too embarrassed.

      Reply
      • You easily forget how good Robinho was at Real Madrid, even if he never lived up to his “next Pele” billing. Go back and look at his record there.

  6. I assume that, if he agrees to a contract soon, there would also be an agreement for him to go out on loan until the beginning of 2015 with a European club or someone on the fall-spring calendar.

    Reply
    • that’s the thing, it says that Robinho is actually keen on a vacation before starting the 2015 season. so i don’t think he would go on loan. he would probably just train at times.

      Reply
  7. Wow. I’ve always hated his juvenile antics on the field — including that annoying baby-sucking-thumb celebration he always does — but there’s no denying his talent. He’d be a great addition to MLS.

    Reply
    • Robinho and Kaka would be into their 30s and perhaps not quite on the level of the sales pitch, but it would definitely make a publicity splash and make OC relevant to the casual fan immediately. Question I’d have is whether they have the lunchpail ethos of the minor league version of OC. Those two sound like a different kind of team.

      Reply

Leave a Comment