Robinho, Manchester City s unsettled Brazilian forward, is to join his first club Santos on a six-month loan, the English Premier League side confirmed on Thursday.
In a statement on their official website, City said the Brazilian club had agreed to pay all of the player s wages and bonuses for the period, which begins immediately and ends on August 4.
Robinho reportedly earns 160,000 pounds a week.
Manager Roberto Mancini said: Robinho is someone who needs to be playing regularly and we wish him well for the period of his loan.
The 26-year-old, who began his career at Santos, will leave for Brazil on Sunday.
Signed from Real Madrid in 2008 for a British transfer record of 32.5 million pounds, Robinho has failed to make a major impression on English football.
He has only sporadically produced anything like his best form for City and had grown disillusioned with life in the north of England.
In City s 2-0 Premier League defeat by Everton earlier this month, he suffered the embarrassment of being taken off by Mancini before the end of the match having only come on as a substitute.
A return to his homeland will offer Robinho the opportunity to secure a place in Brazil s squad for the World Cup in South Africa and City officials are hopeful that a return to form will help them recoup most of the huge fee they paid for him.
