Euroscene For Brazilian footballer, Robson de Souza, otherwise known as "Robinho", these have been dramatic days. Just last Saturday, Robinho's agent was telling reporters in Madrid that this highly tatented 20-year-old striker could be the next "galatico" at Real Madrid.

Twenty four hours later, Robinho was in the news again, but for all the worst reasons, when Brazilian police authorities confirmed armed gunmen had kidnapped his mother, 43-year- old Marina Lima de Souza, in the town of Praia Grande, 75 kilometres from Sao Paulo.

Marina de Souza had been enjoying a barbecue at a friend's house on Saturday night when gunmen burst in on them, locking the other party guests into a bathroom whilst they made good their getaway in Marina's own Mercedes car, later found abandoned.

For the time being, police authorities claim that there has been no contact between Robinho's family and the kidnappers: "Our target at the moment is to bring back the victim in safety, that's our only concern just now", detective Alberto Torrassa told reporters.

Robinho, of course, as the kidnappers well knew, had not been with his mother when they made their uninvited appearnce. He had been with his club, Santos, preparing for a league game away to Criciuma on Sunday.

When the news of his mother's kidnapping came through, Robinho was immediately excused training and allowed to return home to join the rest of his family.

It would be comforting to portray the kidnapping of Robinho's mother as an isolated incident.

In truth, the kidnapping of the relatives of high-profile footballers has become a regular, grisly occurrence in South American football.

Football fans may recall the 1994 kidnapping of the father of Brazilian World Cup winner and striker Romario. What those of us less familiar with South America perhaps do not realise is that, especially in Argentina, the kidnapping of footballer relatives has become relatively common place. Often the victim is held for only a matter of hours and nearly always - one must presume - some form of ransom is paid.

The situation in Argentina is such that this summer it prompted Argentine Matias Almeyda to reconsider his decision to return to his homeland after eight seasons in European football with Seville, Lazio, Parma and Inter Milan.

Almeyda had already signed a new contract with Independiente when he was informed that his father had become a potential kidnap victim.

Terrified by the implications of his return to Argentina, he abruptly changed his mind and opted instead for a contract with far from glamorous, Serie A relegation battlers Brescia.

Almyeda's basic logic was

that, if he was not around in Argentina, then potential kidnappers would find it difficult to contact him to carry out ransom negotiations.

Much of the Latin American kidnapping industry works off the premise that, even if the family's famous son has moved to a swanky club in Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, his family will be still be living where they always lived - perhaps in a new house, but still eminently accessible.

Robinho, too, is a depressingly obvious target for the kidnapping trade. Valued at €20 million, he has more than once been called "the New Pele" (yet another one) and not just because he currently plays his club football with the famous Santos side for which Pele himself played.

A key figure in the Santos side which won its first league title two seasons ago, he is currently the second highest goalscorer in the Brazilian league on 21 goals.

Mind you, not everyone is aware of Robinho's rise to stardom. Such was the poverty in which Marina de Souza grew up in North Eastern Brazil that she was given away, as a 12-year-old, to a family thousands of miles south in Sao Paulo.

When a Brazilian TV programme recently re-united members of Marina's family, they discovered that her father, Robinho's grandfather, had never heard of his famous footballing grandson. Poverty and limited access to media had meant that he failed to pick up on the rise and rise of Brazil's latest footballing superstar.

Unfortunately for Robinho, however, the kidnapping industry had been keeping rather closer tabs on his progress.