Manchester City star Robinho skipped their Carling Cup defeat to Brighton for a dash home to Brazil.

The Daily Mail says Robinho, 23, had been given permission by manager Mark Hughes to fly home to Sao Paulo to sort out some domestic issues while City lost in embarrassing fashion on the south coast.

Having arrived at the club only two weeks earlier, Robinho, the Barclays Premier League's highest paid and most expensive player, played a starring role in last Sunday's 6-0 thrashing of Portsmouth at the City of Manchester Stadium and then caught a plane to South America.

With City's next game not until Sunday - when they travel to Wigan - Hughes clearly feels that Robinho will have enough time to recover from a 11,000-mile round trip and two nine-hour flights in order to be ready to face Steve Bruce's men.