Ahead of TheGame: Robinho's short-term future remains at City

In today's e-mail bulletin, we asked: "Mark Hughes says Manchester City will not be selling Robinho in January, but wouldn't it be more sensible to cash in on the want-away forward and fund a move for, say, Franck Ribery? Isn't Robinho more trouble than he is worth?"

James Ducker responded: "That's a very salient point. On Ribery first, Mark Hughes covets him above probably any other player in world football but he hasn't been given much encouragement in his pursuit of the forward. That may change if City become a Champions League club but for the time being at least, Ribery may be just beyond their reach.

"On Robinho, where do I start? To cut a long story short, City want to keep him, at least until the end of the season, but the Brazilian wants out, ideally as early as January. His public demeanour might not suggest it, but according to those close to him both he and his wife are unsettled in Manchester and want to return to Spain, with Barcelona the most likely destination.

"It's probably going to end up being a battle of wills. Robinho is not stupid. It's a World Cup year and he's not going to want to isolate himself at City if he can't get a move to Barcelona. City are in the fortunate position of being so rich that they don't have to indulge even a £30m-plus player.

"I'm sure if Robinho becomes a disruptive influence Hughes will reconsider things, but City seem determined to ride this out. The situation may change again if Barcelona make an attractive offer but City hardly need the money and, it must be pointed out, don't need to sell one £30m player to buy another."

We also reported on Luke Young turning down a place in the England squad and Roman Pavlyuchenko's unhappiness at warming the Tottenham bench.

Sign up for free here to get the full version featuring the latest news, gossip and fun direct to your inbox every weekday lunchtime and you could be setting the agenda.