Man City target Kaka for £90-100m?!

[grim_tales]

I keep hearing this, but according to Kaka he wants to stay with Milan.
I love football, but I'm sorry - £90m for ONE PLAYER is just insane. It's really OTT IMO if not obscene

Brazil star Kaka says he wants to stay at AC Milan despite talk of a transfer to Manchester City.

A City delegation has been in Milan and reportedly made a bid in the region of £100m, with a weekly wage of £500,000, for the midfielder.

However, the 26-year-old told the website of Mediaset, a TV company owned by Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi: "I want to grow old at Milan.

"My aim is to become at some point in the future the captain of this team."

With Paolo Maldini currently holding the AC Milan skipper's armband, Kaka added: "I know there is a hierarchy and Maldini and (Massimo) Ambrosini are before me, but after..."

Following early reports of the tabled bid on Wednesday, City refused to comment officially on the story.

A City spokeswoman told BBC Radio Manchester: "We have been linked with in excess of 70 names that could have been coming in this transfer window.

606: DEBATE
To pay someone £500,000 per week to kick a football, no matter how brilliantly, perfectly illustrates just how insane our world actually is

BBC Sport's Paul Fletcher

"We are not going to be drawn into any speculation on any names, no matter who they might be."

AC Milan confirmed that their chief executive Adriano Galliani had met officials from City on Tuesday to discuss Kaka's future.

In a statement, the Serie A club said: "Galliani received a delegation from Manchester City yesterday in Milan as a gesture of courtesy like always in these cases. There are no talks at the moment."

The current record for a player's signature is £46m when France's Zinedine Zidane moved from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001.

Kaka joined Serie A giants Milan from Sao Paulo in 2003 and has since won the league title, Champions League and Club World Cup.

The attacking midfielder also picked up the Ballon d'Or and Fifa World Player of the Year awards in 2007.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, estimated to be worth £15bn, took over as City owner in September 2008 and extensive funds have been made available to manager Mark Hughes.

Every player has his price - Marcotti

However, he has only secured the services of Wayne Bridge in January's transfer window, with bids rejected for West Ham forward Craig Bellamy and Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz.

The four-man delegation that travelled to Italy to initiate talks with the Milan officials is believed to have included executive chairman Garry Cook and two representatives of the Sheikh.

BBC Radio 5 Live's senior football reporter Ian Dennis says the move underlines Sheikh Mansour's "desire to transform Manchester City", although he added "actually pulling off what would be an incredible coup is another matter entirely".

With the club struggling in 15th position in the Premier League, it would give City an incredible boost if they were to seal the deal for one of the world's best players.

However, it is thought the move to target Kaka is being driven by the club's top officials rather than Hughes himself.

RECORD TRANSFERS
£47m Zinedine Zidane (Juventus - Real Madrid)
£37m Luis Figo (Barcelona - Real Madrid)
£34m Hernan Jorge Crespo (Parma - Lazio)
£32.5m Robinho (Real Madrid - Man City)
£31m Christian Vieri (Lazio - Inter Milan)
£30.75m Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham - Manchester United)

Having started his career with Sao Paulo where he scored 58 goals, Kaka moved to Milan for £5m and has scored 86 goals in 244 appearances.

He has also picked up 62 caps for Brazil and scored 23 goals having made his debut against Bolivia in January 2002 and featured in the 2002 World Cup winning squad.

Kaka is on a contract at the San Siro until 2013 and although he stated last February that he wanted to remain at Milan for the rest of his career, he did hint at a desire to play in the Premier League - which he has described as the "best championship in the world".

Following Robinho's surprise £32.5 move to Eastlands in September and not, as expected, to Chelsea, Kaka's spokesman Diogo Kotscho warned City it would need more than a large cheque to persuade the player to move.

"Kaka wouldn't do anything based on money," Kotscho told Corriere dello Sport. "He would never do something like Robinho, who, just to earn more, contented himself with a solution that was not a winning one."

Italian football expert Gabrielle Marcotti told BBC Radio 5 Live he believed the City delegation had begun conversations with Milan representatives talking about signing goalkeeper Nelson Dida.

"As I understand it, they went to Milan supposedly under the ruse of talking about another player and in the course of the conversation they brought up Kaka and said they would be prepared to spend this much," Marcotti said.

£500k a week?! Bloody hell, that's absolutely insane and just plain wrong. All the money City have (and Robinho, great player) hasnt brought success yet. It hasnt worked for Chelski yet.

[Yi-Long]

Man City havent been rich for long enough, so they could ONLY buy Robinho before the transfermarket closed last summer.
I'm sure they can buy their way into the top 5 orso within 2 years.

Buying Kaka just seems ridiculous. Everyone seems to rate Italian football highly, but I'm not one of them. In fact, only the top 2-3 teams in the italian Serie A are capable of playing good football (not great), and the rest of the league is just crap as hell. It's all very slowmoving, defensive, negative, uninspiring, etc etc.

I dont rate Italian football at all.

And I'm not that sure about Kaka being able to live up to his reputation if he played in the premier league. Not to mention that the money we're talking about here is beyond riduculous. If the club would have ANY kind of intelligence and vision, they'd invest that money in setting up a GREAT youth-program for their talented young players, but I guess they'd rather think about short-term succes and selling T-shirts instead.

[Markgway]

In a world where children are dying of starvation.............

[Yi-Long]

In a world where children are dying of starvation.............

Yeah, it makes little sense, and yet it does: millions of people are watching football, thus when you look at the total income from the matches on TV and the commercials etc, it does make sense that players make alot of money, simply because those are the people that are actually doing the work and the entertaining.

I'd prefer salary-caps though.

[grim_tales]

Yeah me too, I think a wage cap of sorts would be a good idea.

[Markgway]

Yeah, it makes little sense, and yet it does: millions of people are watching football, thus when you look at the total income from the matches on TV and the commercials etc, it does make sense that players make alot of money, simply because those are the people that are actually doing the work and the entertaining. I'd prefer salary-caps though.

Therein lies the problem. TOO MUCH MONEY. I don't blame the players. If I were them I'd take what I could get also. I mean, most of them are as thick as shit and if they didn't happen to be good at kicking a ball they'd be involved in boosting cars "for a living". Players are overpaid because the clubs generate TOO MUCH income. Why? Because they charge TOO MUCH for TV rights. TOO MUCH money from fans (you know the mugs who pay extortionate prices for a ticket every week). If ticket prices were capped... TV rights capped... overseas investment capped... then the money generated by clubs would be reduced and they COULDN'T afford to pay out these ridiculous sums to overgrown schoolboys playing A FUCKING GAME.

[grim_tales]

Do you not like football Mark?

[Markgway]

I sometimes watch it on TV. Why?

[grim_tales]

Some phrases made it sound like you didnt like football.
I agree with you though, its just a game and that sort of money is ludicrous. You're right, its hardly cheap to see a game!

[Yi-Long]

Yeah, it makes little sense, and yet it does: millions of people are watching football, thus when you look at the total income from the matches on TV and the commercials etc, it does make sense that players make alot of money, simply because those are the people that are actually doing the work and the entertaining. I'd prefer salary-caps though.

Therein lies the problem. TOO MUCH MONEY. I don't blame the players. If I were them I'd take what I could get also. I mean, most of them are as thick as shit and if they didn't happen to be good at kicking a ball they'd be involved in boosting cars "for a living". Players are overpaid because the clubs generate TOO MUCH income. Why? Because they charge TOO MUCH for TV rights. TOO MUCH money from fans (you know the mugs who pay extortionate prices for a ticket every week). If ticket prices were capped... TV rights capped... overseas investment capped... then the money generated by clubs would be reduced and they COULDN'T afford to pay out these ridiculous sums to overgrown schoolboys playing A FUCKING GAME.

The problem isnt really the clubs asking too much, but there is so much DEMAND that it automatically just drives the prices up.

It's all very normal and logical, cause there are only so many seats to sell, and there are only so many TV broadcasters that can broadcast the games. So they all bid against eachother and the prices go up. Not really much that the clubs, nor the players, can do about it.

That being said, I AM in favour of a salaray-cap, but I have no real idea how that would best work. The players are the one doing all the work, and if THEY dont get the money, others will who are doing much less work.
Also, putting limits on broadcasting rights and all that isnt a good idea, cause all the amateur-clubs also feed from that ... so it IS good to keep making lots of money with this.

So yeah, it's a difficult situation to cover all bases yet bring it back to 'normal'. I'm sure I'll be able to find a sollution if I have a while to think about everything from every angle, and obviously that includes more money going through youth-programs and all that, but it's certainly not a situation where you will be able to please everyone involved.

[Markgway]

I do like the sport. I just don't like the hype or the overpaid celebrity bullshit that goes along with it. It used to be a working class sport. Something for hard working men to enjoy at the weekend. Now it's priced into extortion territory. The big clubs charge up to £40 a game. Even smaller clubs you're talking £20 per person. Imagine a 2.4 family. That's what -- £60 per week on average? Just so players and executives can keep getting richer. It HAS to be wrong. When my Dad was a kid he went to the cinema three times a week. Everyone did. And his family was POOR. Not today's "I don't have the latest Playstation" poor. But POOR. Three times a week, eh? Could you afford that now? Tickets are expensive so actors can get the national income of a third world country for prancing about in costumes.

[saltysam]

when i first started going to Anfield in 1972 it cost me 35p to get into the ground (standing) there was outrage when it went up to 50p a around 1974-5! now it costs me £35 for a seat on the Kop.

[Markgway]

As long as fans pay...................

[saltysam]

if i don't pay for my seat someone else will.there's a 40 year waiting list for an ST at Liverpool.

[Markgway]

Which tells you all you need to know about football fans............

[saltysam]

All the money City have (and Robinho, great player) hasnt brought success yet. It hasnt worked for Chelski yet.

City have only had money 5 months Grim, takes longer than that mate as for Chelsea,how has it not worked? 2 premiership titles, fa cups,league cups....

[grim_tales]

They havent won the CL yet though.
They didnt win the PL under Ranieri or Mourinho I thought

[Yi-Long]

They havent won the CL yet though.
They didnt win the PL under Ranieri or Mourinho I thought

They are able to win the CL, and that's all you can hope for. When you get to the final stages of the CL, it's not just a matter of your own quality, but also just luck and stuff.

[grim_tales]

True.

[saltysam]

They didnt win the PL under Ranieri or Mourinho I thought

They won 2 PL titles with Mourinho! is that what you base success on?winning the CL?very few teams win the european cup,it's not easy,look at Arsenal one of the biggest clubs in the world and yet they've never won it.

[Yi-Long]

Chelsea went from a crappy team to one of the best teams in the PL, because of the money. Liverpool was also crap for a bunch of years untill recently. 10 years orso ago it was just Arsenal and Man Utd who were going up for the title (PL), and now you have a whole bunch of other teams able to defeat the best. Money IS good for the sport, as it just improves the overall quality of the league. And obviously, it's a circle, cause you have more money, you buy quality, you earn more because of that extra quality, etc etc.

So yeah, all these people that are claiming that all that money is ruining football, they dont have a clue. The PL is so much more fun nowadays with quality players from all over, than it was 10-15 years orso ago.

But obviously, at the same time, when you look at the salaries involved for kicking around a ball, it's absolutely surreal and ridiculous.

It's a strange, weird, and very unfair world....

[grim_tales]

Oh yeah I remember now, they won the PL with Mourinho but not Grant. As for Big Phil, we'll see.
Thats true about Arsenal though.