Kaka's Non Move is EPL's Loss

by Andrew Rogers

President Barack Obama may change the Western world, but the biggest story in the history of football emerged from Eastlands last week, Manchester City were set to buy AC Milan’s Brazilian Ace Kaka for a reported $150,000,000 transfer fee.

The wages were reported to work out at $750,000 per week after tax. The shear scale of the sums and the club involved in purchasing pushed football into new realms.

The story has been played over many times in English football, but not at the highest possible level in terms of the wealth of the benefactor, quality of the talent being demanded, or the progression in transfer fee.

The first time in modern English football the earth shattering transfer fee story did the rounds and caused outrage was in 1992 when multi millionaire Jack Walker paid $6m for Alan Shearer.

Read what Soccer 365’s Jerrad ‘the Answerman’ Peters has to say on the Kaka move that never happened.

The move was met with indignation and much shaking of the head, as fans and pundits alike, concluded Jack Walker was simply trying to buy success – perish the thought!

The success of the move partly lay in the momentum Blackburn had as a progressing side, they challenged for the title over the next two seasons and became Premier League Champions in 1996.

When Roman Abramovich arrived on the scene and started throwing rubles at Chelsea, the London club were already EPL contenders, successful in Europe and domestically they were buying very big names albeit just after their peak – Ruud Gullit, Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli and so on.

Thus when the Roman revolution started, the club was accelerating on an upward curve started by former Chairman Ken Bates. What added to Chelsea’s domination was their ability to outbid for emerging talent cutting off the future of competing clubs, instead of Manchester United attracting Michael Essien, and therefore Chelsea signing Mikel John Obi.

Chelsea simply bought both and Ferguson had to change the tactics of the team, with Chelsea owning the two best emerging defensive midfielders.

It was the same offensively, Chelsea had a monopoly on the world’s best talent: Hernan Crespo, Didier Drogba, Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, Mateja Kezman, Nicolas Anelka, Arjen Robben all of these players were at the height of their game, and were all signed by Chelsea on wages Manchester United and Arsenal could not compete with.

But it was linear, the same cannot be said of Manchester City, and the context in which they attempted to sign Kaka. The show business equivalent would be Leonardo DiCaprio auditioning to appear on Fear Factor….

The transfer attempt has attracted much criticism, and much of it unjustified. Apparently for the same sums as Kaka’s right leg, Cancer can be cured and the global recession ended….

Of course the levels of compensation to buy the talent and remunerate it are fantastical, but firstly that is the very nature of modern sports, and secondly in the same position can we honestly say we wouldn’t dance?

What further sullies the attacks is the hypocrisy of the writers’ assertions, when they jump from newspaper to newspaper for big 6 figure sums, and the double standards of Hollywood stars being considered successful when they bank big numbers, while footballers are branded greedy.

Some might argue David Beckham’s transfer had a similar impact, but commercially moving to L.A suited brand Beckham, and at the time he was an aging midfielder that was surplus to requirements at Real Madrid, and by England.

Kaka, 2008 world Player of the year, and could have been playing for a side that 10 years ago were playing in the 3rd tier of English football, and 6 years ago in the Championship.

The fact is it should have happened- loyalty and where the heart lies had little to do with why the move failed. Manchester City naively though understandably as an emerging club didn’t succeed simply because they went public on their ambitions.

Had the matter stayed behind closed doors until the deal was done, Kaka and AC Milan would have faced none the quandaries that stalled the move, and eventually brought it to an end.

After the story hit the front and back pages, AC Milan had a lot more issues to deal with than if the transfer was announced once concluded, and despite taking the moral high ground did tell City Kaka was available.

Manchester City’s Chairman stated Milan “bottled” the move, but in reality highlighted the club’s limited experience in dealing with big time transfer moves.

Ultimately it’s a set back for the Premiership, with Kaka amongst its ranks, it would only take the addition of Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Karim Benzema to harbour all of the world’s best talent.

Kaka decided his heart was in Milan

SOCCER : Kaka has revealed he prayed to God to help him decide to stay at AC Milan rather than join Manchester City. The 26-year-old Brazil playmaker yesterday turned down a world-record transfer deal which would have made him comfortably the highest-paid player in world football.

“I believe I have made the right choice,” the deeply religious Kaka told AC Milan TV after deciding to remain in Italy rather than join City, who are backed by the mega-rich Abu Dhabi United Group.

“To have gone to Manchester City could have been a great project but in the past few days I have prayed a lot to understand what the right team would be and in the end I have decided to remain here.

“I don’t want anything else, I just want to be well and be happy in the place where people love me.

“From this story I have understood how people love me at Milan, the fans and my team-mates have helped me make this choice.”

Real Madrid and Chelsea had already failed in their attempts to sign the South American star, but on those occasions the club had rejected the offers before personal negotiations with Kaka or his representatives could even begin.

“Milan has always turned down offers for me,” Kaka said. “I always said to everyone to first agree with Milan and then we can talk. But Milan had never accepted an offer for me.”

Kaka, who is under contract with the Rossoneri until June 2013 and is the highest-paid player at Milan, said money was never a motivating factor.

“No member of my family has pushed me to go anywhere,” Kaka said. “I have not had any arguments with my father.

“My family has been very supportive and at no time have they forced me one way or the other.

“There were rumours that this story had come out because I wanted to renew my contract, this is not true.

“I have remained with the team where I am linked by heart.”

Support from the fans was evident on Saturday when AC Milan played at home against Fiorentina. The Rossoneri fans held banners and chanted songs to show their support for Kaka.

“Saturday’s game was no ordinary game for me,” he said. “I was very emotional.

“Many children brought their drawings that they dedicated to me. When I left Sao Paulo to join Milan, a large part of the public criticized me.

“Now here all the fans are there chanting my name.

“Milan is my home, where I am close to and where my heart really is. That is what made me take this decision.”

Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi, who was involved in yesterday’s meeting with a City delegation headed by executive chairman Garry Cook, welcomed Kaka’s decision to stay.

“We offered the player the chance to consider the offer and make himself a fortune, but he has higher values,” said Berlusconi.

“He is staying with us, there are things which are more important than money: we are happy.

“When I heard he would prefer to stay, that he didn’t think he would be missing a great opportunity and he prefers the values of our flag, the values of closeness and friendship, the warmth and the affection that all the fans have shown him in these days, I said ‘hooray’ and we hugged. Kaka is staying at Milan.”

In conceding a first-round defeat, Cook acknowledged it was always a long shot to persuade Kaka he should join the City revolution.

“Whilst Manchester City Football Club has an obvious interest in world-class players of the quality of Kaka, we owe it to our fans that such a transfer must

work on every level; commercially, financially, in terms of results on the field and within Manchester City’s broader community,” Cook told www.mcfc.co.uk.

Messi Scores Barcelona Winner as Beckham Makes AC Milan Debut

By James Cone

Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Lionel Messi scored a late winner as Spanish league leader Barcelona rallied to beat bottom club Osasuna 3-2, while David Beckham made his Serie A debut in AC Milan’s 2-2 draw against AS Roma yesterday.

With Barcelona trailing 2-1 entering the last 10 minutes, Xavi put the teams level in his 300th league appearance before Argentina forward Messi unleashed an 84th-minute left-footed shot into the corner to secure the victory.

“The third goal was all about Messi and his quality,” Barca coach Pep Guardiola told Agence-France Presse after Messi’s 11th goal of the season.

Barcelona remains 12 points ahead of Real Madrid and, with one game to play, has matched Madrid’s record of 47 points halfway through the season. Defending champion Madrid set the record last campaign.

Madrid striker Raul scored on his 500th Primera Liga appearance for the club to help the defending champion to its first away win since October, a 3-0 victory at Mallorca. Arjen Robben and Sergio Ramos also got goals.

Madrid moves to 35 points, the same as Sevilla, with Valencia on 34, and Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and Deportivo La Coruna on 30 points.

In Saturday’s games, Sevilla beat Deportivo 3-1, while Valencia drew 3-3 against Villarreal. Atletico suffered a 3-2 home defeat yesterday to Athletic Bilbao.

Numancia beat Getafe 2-0, Malaga won 2-1 at Real Betis, Sporting Gijon defeated Valladolid 2-1, while Racing Santander and Recreativo Huelva drew 1-1. Espanyol drew 2-2 with Almeria.

‘Enjoyed It’

Beckham, on loan to Milan from L.A. Galaxy, was a surprise starter in Rome and played most of the draw at the Olympic stadium. He was substituted in the 88th minute.

“I enjoyed it immensely, I was surprised to start the game but given the chance I really enjoyed it,” Beckham told AFP.

Also yesterday, Juventus beat Siena 1-0 to cut Inter Milan’s Serie A lead to four points. Alessandro Del Piero scored from a 34th-minute free kick in Turin as Juventus took advantage of Inter being held to a 1-1 home draw by Cagliari a day earlier.

“There’s still a long way to go in the championship and we have to show that we deserve to be in this position,” Del Piero told AFP. “Today we won through stubbornness despite not playing very well.”

Inter has 43 points from 18 of 38 matches, Juventus has 39, AC Milan has 34 points and Napoli has 33 points.

Napoli beat Catania 1-0, Lecce won 2-1 at Fiorentina, Palermo defeated Atalanta 3-2, Udinese drew 1-1 against Sampdoria, while Lazio won 3-2 at Reggina. Bologna tied Chievo 1-1, and in Saturday’s other match, Genoa beat Torino 3-0.

Menanti 'Super Milan'

Narayana Mahendra Prastya - detiksport


REUTERS
Dubai - David Beckham memang luar biasa. Kedatangannya sudah bikin Andrea Pirlo rela tak dimainkan dan kini Ronaldinho pun menyambut dengan cara siap bermain di mana saja demi bisa membentuk tim impian bersama Beckham.

Datangnya Beckham dengan status pinjaman ke Milan bikin sejumlah kalangan menilai dia akan sulit mendapat tempat di lini tengah 'Rossoneri' yang sudah diisi nama besar macam Kaka, Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf dan Dinho.

Akan tetapi, seiring dengan bergulirnya waktu, peluang Beckham untuk tampil tampaknya kian besar. Apalagi Pirlo sudah menyatakan oke-oke saja digeser demi melapangkan jalan buat Beckham.

Selain itu, Milan kini juga tengah menjalani pemusatan latihan di Dubai. Kegiatan tersebut diduga akan jadi momen buat Carlo Ancelotti untuk merekatkan Kaka, Pirlo, Seedorf, Dinho dan Beckham untuk bisa tampil bareng dan bikin Milan menjelma jadi tim impian.

Dinho sendiri percaya mereka semua bisa bermain bersama. "Memainkan kami bersama adalah keputusan yang bergantung pada pelatih, tapi saya pikir itu bisa dilakukan, kenapa tidak?" tutur Dinho di situs Milan.

"Yang terpenting adalah para pemain siap mengorbankan diri untuk kebaikan tim. Saya bisa beradaptasi dengan situasi atau posisi apapun sesuai dengan permintaan pelatih. Saya tak punya kesulitan, di lini tengah, menyerang, kanan atau kiri, itu tak ada bedanya buat saya," lugas Dinho.

Jika kelima pemain hebat itu sukses tampil bersama-sama, 'Il Diavolo Rossi' niscaya jadi kian dahsyat. Awal kelahiran "Super Milan"?