Robinho facing Hughes grilling

ROBINHO faces a grilling from Manchester City manager Mark Hughes when he arrives back from Brazil.

The former Real Madrid forward is facing disciplinary action after leaving their training camp in Tenerife without permission.

Robinho phoned Hughes to give his reasons after publicly stating he needed to return home to address a family matter.

He will still be in hot water, however, when he makes his expected return this weekend.

“He has apologised that he left without permission,” said Hughes.

“He needs to be able to put his side of the story. I will put mine – and we will move on.

“There was a situation where Robbie thought he had permission to go. That was not the case.

“I expect him to be here, working hard and training with the team. It will be resolved very quickly when he comes back.

“He was very apologetic. He understands we need to address this situation and we will.

“Once he is back we will sit down. We will make sure everyone is clear (about the situation) and I will make my feelings known.

“I will be looking for a more detailed explanation from Robby why he felt the need to go back and then decisions will be made.

“He left the training camp without permission. He said he had personal things he needed to address and made the decision to go back to Brazil. That was wrong.”

City are still in Tenerife as they are out of the FA Cup and Hughes has ruled out the possibility of Robinho returning to camp.

“It is not practicable to get Robbie back here because of the time difference,” the City boss added.

“He will be back at the weekend and ready to train at the first available opportunity.”

Robinho insists he does not have any problems with the manager and says there is no rift with Hughes.

“I have a good relationship with Mark Hughes and have always respected his decisions,” he stated on his official website. “He is the boss!”

Robinho, who arrived from Real Madrid on transfer deadline day for a British record fee of €40 million, feels he has settled in well to life in England.

“I like living in Manchester and I have made many friends at the club and at the city, since I arrived last year,” he said. “I am looking forward to delivering as many goals as possible to help our team move to the next level.”

Meanwhile Hughes says he has no regrets about trying to sign Kaka.

He believes City should be applauded and not derided for pursuing AC Milan’s former FIFA world player of the year.

“There is a lot of negativity around what we do – or so it seems,” said Hughes.

“I think that people have lost sight of what we were trying to do, which was to bring one of the best players in the world to Manchester City. We should be given a little bit of credit for that.

“We were not able to conclude the deal but we got very, very close.

“The Kaka situation was one we had to move for. When you have the opportunity to go for one of the best players in the world, timing issues go out of the window.

“When you get the indication that a player of that quality could be available, you have to move quickly.

“We will use the negativity that has been used by others as a strength. We will build slowly, build correctly and make sure we are stronger in the future.”