In some ways Robinho was worth the money

The knives are out for Robinho as the £32.5m man prepares to bid farewell to Manchester City. The 26-year-old Brazilian who arrived in England in 2008 is set to head back to Brazil after less than 18 months after what amounts to a dismal spell in the Premier League.

As he leaves he will be bombarded with statistics - £2m a goal, more than £500,000 for every appearance. And those figures do not take his wages into account.

To make matters worse for City they are being asked to pay at half his salary - £80,000 a week - even when he is out on loan. That could leave them facing a total loss of some £40m on the player if he then leaves on a free transfer when his City contract expires.

For their part Santos are hoping merchandising and sponsorship will help them raise the money they need to afford Robinho, who began his career with the club. But Santos's highest paid player is on £35,000 a week at the moment - a good indication of the financial gulf that exists between Europe's biggest teams and the rest of the footballing world.

Yet it was a desire to become one of Europe's biggest teams that drove City to sign Robinho from Real Madrid in 2008. And no matter how much he has cost them per goal or per minute the player has helped them achieve that. On the pitch he produced occasional moments of brilliance, but off it he made a much bigger impact.

For City's owner Sheikh Mansour Robinho was a trophy as much as a player - his arrival proved that City had the financial clout to gazump Chelsea in the transfer market and could attract the world's biggest names to Eastlands.

Before he arrived the City revolution seemed like another false dawn that was fooling no-one except City's success starved fans. But as he prepares to leave Eastlands, City lie fifth in the table and many people's favourites to gatecrash the top four. More importantly for their fans they lead local rivals Manchester United 2-1 in a Carling Cup semi final and are also still in the hunt for the FA Cup.

As Rory Smith in the Telegraph points out the cost of the Robinho experiment is small beer to City's owners. "Robinho was a statement of intent, a sign of what was to come. He was the clarion call that made the world sit up and take notice. Five hundred and 13 days ago, everything changed, and it was Robinho's arrival that proved it. In that sense, he succeeded. In that sense, he could not have failed," he writes. ·