Player profile

Once you have been labelled the ‘new Pele’ by none other than Pele himself, living up to expectations is always going to be problematic.

At Manchester City, the pressure placed on Robinho as a £32.5m British record signing proved to be too much and he was forced to slope off back to his first club Santos on loan in January.

Although he has been a frequent goal-scorer in the Brazilian league, he has been overshadowed by his team-mates, Neymar and Paulo Henrique Ganso, the latest wunderkinds off the Brazilian production line.

His first spell at Santos brought him two league titles and a big-money move to become a Galactico at Real Madrid but successful spell at the Bernabau ended in acrimony when he threatened to go on strike to earn himself a move to Chelsea.

When that failed to materialise, he moved to Manchester City and became the totem of their new Arab-financed regime. His star dazzled to begin with, but ultimately faded and he suffered the ignominy of coming on as a substitute then being replaced himself in a match at Everton.

His future when his loan spell with Santos ends in August remains up in the air.

He started only one match at the 2006 World Cup, but secured his place in the side at the following year’s Copa America, where he was the best player and Golden Boot winner, scoring six goals as Brazil lifted the trophy.

Despite his erratic club form, national coach Dunga has him down as an automatic starter, and he missed just three matches during qualifying for South Africa.

As a boy, he honed his skills by dribbling around gravestones in a cemetery in his home town of Sao Paulo. At the age of nine, he scored 73 goals in one season of futsal and, in 1994, his coach, Betinho, took him to play on a full-size pitch at Associação Atlética dos Portuários, a dockworkers’ club.

Earlier this year he took part in a TV commercial for the Brazilian national team’s new sponsor, Seara, (a global food supplier) in which he and team-mates Neymar and Ganso recreated Beyonce’s famous video for her ‘Single Ladies’ song.