Manchester City spend £150k to Robinho and pals home for Chelsea game

Manchester City are splashing out over £150,000 to jet home Robinho and their other South American stars to face Chelsea.

City's new billionaire owners, Abu Dhabi United, have sent a private plane on a 16,000-mile round trip to collect the ir record £32.5million signing together with Jo, Elano and Pablo Zabaleta.

The quartet, who cost City £65m, were involved in World Cup qualifiers last night and would not have arrived in Manchester in time for Saturday evening's match if they had used scheduled flights.

The luxury jet was expected to pick up Zabaleta in Lima this morning, where he was playing for Argentina against Peru, before flying the 2,340 miles across the continent to Rio de Janeiro to collect Robinho and his Brazilian team-mates.

The four would then jet the 5,900 miles from Rio to Manchester, touching down in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

Boss Mark Hughes will assess them in training tomorrow afternoon and decide if Robinho is OK to make his full debut against the club he snubbed to join City on transfer deadline day.

The £150,000 is the equivalent of loose change for the Blues' new Middle Eastern owners and they will consider it money well spent if the players get their reign off to a successful start against Chelsea.

Hughes said: "We couldn't have got the lads back in time on scheduled flights so we've had to make other arrangements.

"I'll make a judgement on what I see, but it's fair to say there will be a reasonable chance Robinho will be involved.

"The great thing about him is he offers us options as to where he can play and that kind of flexibility is something I'm always looking for in players.

"He can play wide on the left, behind a striker or alongside a target man and that will be invaluable. He is the sort of player who can affect the game wherever he is on the pitch.

"It's always important to get a player assimilated as quickly as possible," he said. "I did it with Vincent Kompany and he excelled and I've done it in the past.

"Some players can instantly cope with the different demands placed on them by the Premier League and some players can't, so I think it's important for me to know that situation straight away."

Hughes wants Elano to act as his chaperon and help Robinho to settle in. "It's easier when you move to a new club that you know some of the guys already there," said Hughes.

The City chief, who should have Micah Richards back from his shoulder injury, is also excited about seeing Zabaleta making his City debut.

"I saw him a few times when he was at Espanyol and wanted to nick him. I'm delighted I've got him at City," he said.

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