Graphic: City’s wide guys provide winning formula

Marina de Souza and Ian Wright simply wanted to see a smile back on the faces of their sons. Robinho’s final days at Real Madrid had been as unhappy as Shaun Wright-Phillips’s were at Chelsea, but they have been united so unexpectedly and Manchester City fans are witnessing the rebirth of two players at a club reborn thanks to the intervention of Sheikh Mansour, an Arab billionaire whose £200 million takeover will be finalised today.

The travelling Portsmouth supporters, who suffered in silence as their team were dismantled at the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday, may beg to differ, but there was something liberating about watching Robinho and Wright-Phillips running riot in a 6-0 win.

Playing for Real could never be considered a hardship, but having been angered by the Spanish club’s willingness to use him as a makeweight in their efforts to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United in the summer, Robinho’s desire to leave the Bernabéu was clear. Bursting into tears during a phone conversation with Ramón Calderón, the Real president, before threatening to remain in Brazil for two years unless he was granted his wish to leave, Robinho did little to dispel rumours that he is high-maintenance, but while the circumstances of his record-breaking £34.2 million move to City may remain a source of debate, the forward looks at home in the sky blue shirt.

He will not always get his way — Barclays Premier League defences are rarely as accommodating as Portsmouth’s were at the weekend — and as the cold, wet nights draw in, it will be interesting to see how he copes against less talented players who are prepared to kick him off the pitch, but the Brazilian is relishing being the big fish in a little pond, albeit one that is growing with every day that passes.

Two goals in three matches and a couple of assists have proven that there is plenty of substance to match his style, but it is not only the supporters who are being entertained. Mark Hughes, the City manager, painted a picture yesterday of a player loving life and loved by his new team-mates.

“Initially, he showed signs of being apprehensive about the situation he found himself in, but he’s had great support from his colleagues in the Brazil team, Elano and Jô, and that has helped him to settle,” Hughes said. “That early apprehension went very quickly and we have seen, just as quickly, that the guy simply loves playing. At [Real] Madrid, he wanted to play every week and he felt he wasn’t getting that chance. Maybe he felt he wasn’t going to be as loved as he obviously will be here.

“Before his first game [at home to Chelsea] he was doing tricks with the ball in the dressing-room and all the guys were sat around applauding him, so straight away he won them over. Good Premier League players look at top players coming into their club and view it as a challenge. Players are quickly looking to see if another player is as good as people say he is. ‘Will he help us to win games?’ The answer is he will do and players are responding.”

As well as Stephen Ireland, the most obvious of those is Wright-Phillips, whose return to City after a forgettable three-year spell at Chelsea appears to have revitalised the winger. Gone are the inhibitions and instead City have a better player than the one who convinced Roman Abramovich to pay £21 million for his services.

Having scored only four goals in 82 league appearances at Chelsea, Wright-Phillips has scored three in three for City since his £8.5 million move “back home”. Fabio Capello, the England manager, must be rubbing his hands with glee. “I think it’s fair to say Shaun coming back to City has had a liberating effect on the lad,” Hughes said. “We all knew how good a player he was, he just needed to get that confidence back, and now we’re already seeing what an impact he can make.”

It is smiles all round at City these days.