We have reached a point in sports history … and perhaps it is a compliment, although of a back-handed sort … that any time an aging or semi-flaky player is thought to be on the move … he invariably is linked to a club in the UAE.

Earlier, it was Jorge Valdivia, Chilean midfielder.

Now, it is Robinho, Brazilian forward.

The notion being that the UAE has some teams wealthy/silly enough to pay serious money for guys no longer at the top of their games.

Al Ahli, Al Ain and Al Jazira usually come up in the rumors, the three of them being the clubs most likely to spend a lot of money on a name that will make a splash.

Ahli, the Dubai club, signed Fabio Cannavaro, back in 2010, just after he had retired as Italy captain. Ahli also signed Grafite, the Brazilian forward.

Al Ain paid significant money for Asamoah Gyan, the Ghanaian who previously played at the English side Sunderland.

Al Jazira, the biggest club in Abu Dhabi, really got this whole notion rolling, back in 2009, when spending Dh72.5 million (about $19.7 million) to buy Ricardo Oliveira, a Brazilian striker then with the Spanish side Real Betis.

At this moment, both Ahli and Jazira allegedly are in pursuit of Robinho, according to the story by Ahmed Rizvi in The National.

I would think both teams would be better off if he went somewhere else.

He had some highlights with some big clubs, but his erratic behavior at Manchester City, which is closely followed here because Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed owns City, has left question marks around him.

Anyway, it is amusing to see. Some big name comes up, and if he is not going to a Turkish team, or mayb e Major League Soccer, then certainly he must be going to the UAE.