None of this should have been a surprise, yet it all seemed to catch both parties off-guard.
Robinho, full name Robson de Souza, left his boyhood club Santos for Real Madrid in a £20 million transfer in 2005, the 21-year-old proclaiming he would win the Ballon d Or within two or three years .
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Instead, 12 years later, in November 2017, he was found guilty for his part in the 2013 gang rape of a woman in Italy, where he was playing for AC Milan.
Tried in absentia by the Italian judicial system, he was sentenced to nine years in jail, but has never served any time. The sentence was suspended pending an appeal, which is scheduled to be heard on Thursday. Robinho has always said he plans to prove his innocence.