How it all unravelled for ex-poster boy Robinho as he prepares for jail time

In a landmark ruling on Wednesday, Brazil's Superior Court of Justice sentenced Robinho - a player who for many was the dictionary definition for 'wasted potential' - to nine-years after being found guilty of gang rape.

The ruling brought to a close a near seven-year saga of appeals and avoiding extradition since his original sentencing by an Italian court. The ex-player, once called 'the new Pele' by the great man himself, is set to spend almost a decade behind bars, 11 years after the original crime took place.

The former Premier League player, who's real name is Robson De Souza, was one of six men who were found guilty of assaulting an Albanian woman in an Italian nightclub in January 2013, while he was on the books at AC Milan.

The Milan Court of Appeals found Robinho had 'belittled' and 'brutally humiliated' the victim as it upheld his original sentence made in December 2020. As part of the original judgement, a transcript of alleged messages from the former player was released that contained such phrases as: 'I'm laughing because I couldn't care less'.

Robinho maintains his innocence from his home in Brazil, where he has spent the last seven years and has been unable to leave after having his passport taken a year ago, but his sentence further diminishes a legacy that had already fallen well short of his potential as a result of a stunning career nosedive.

For football fans of a certain generation, no matter who you supported, you couldn't really believe Robinho was coming to the Premier League, even if it was to Manchester City, who were busily making use of their newly-acquired wealth after being bought by Sheikh Mansour.

At Real Madrid he was fully justifying his wonderkid epithet, and in his final year before