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| Tuesday 22 July, 2008 |
| Blog: Paying the price |
| If Chelsea really want Kaka then they will need to offer the reported £100m to tempt Milan into a sale, argues Antonio Labbate |
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Milan continue to maintain that Kaka is untouchable. Chelsea, for their part, insist that they’ve made no bid. But what if, hypothetically, the London club really did come in with an offer in excess of £100m for the Brazilian? The Italian outfit would surely have to consider it.
It certainly wouldn’t be an easy or popular decision to sacrifice Kaka, but it would make financial and footballing sense. Milan would obviously be losing a great, great player, but the fee received would potentially give them the sort of funds needed to significantly strengthen the side in other areas.
It’s no secret that this present Rossoneri incarnation is three star players short of being classed amongst the very strongest on the planet. They may have brought in Ronaldinho – and don’t we know it after their over-the-top San Siro presentation – but they still lack a quality centre-forward, a central defender and a goalkeeper.
The club have basically admitted to as much over the summer when they made moves for Fiorentina custodian Sebastien Frey and striker Emanuel Adebayor of Arsenal. Why did they fail to land the pair? Because they were frightened off by their, arguably inflated, asking prices. If only they had a spare £100m in the bank…
Juventus have shown in the past what making such a brave decision can lead to. In 2001 they accepted a world record £50m offer from Real Madrid for Zinedine Zidane, then used that as part of the total figure they spent in the same summer on Gigi Buffon, Lilian Thuram and Pavel Nedved.
Of course, you can justifiably argue that it’s irrelevant to compare the two Italian giants as Juventus were self-sufficient under the Triade reign. Then President Vittorio Chiusano said at the time: “It would have been a poor example of administration if we hadn’t sold him. Balance sheets have no emotion.”
Milan, on the other hand, are funded to a degree by Silvio Berlusconi’s personal fortune and run with sentiment. Just look at the number of veterans who are handed new contracts on a yearly basis and how many former players are integrated into the club, at some level, once they hang up their boots.
It’s for that reason that if Chelsea are serious about landing Kaka, then it is going to take a ‘silly’ offer of what is being suggested to prise him away from a club who clearly adore him. But no matter what bond joins the two, every player has his price. It just remains to be seen what Kaka’s is.
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Milan and Chelsea may deny the rumours, but a deal will be done. If I were Galliani or Berlusconi I’d take the £100m and buy Seb Frey or Franco Costanzo in goal, Dimitar Berbatov or Klas Jan Huntelaar in attack, Ezequiel Garay or Lucio at the back. I would finally sell Ronaldinho next season to acquire Lionel Messi.
Aldi, Indonesia
I think we should wait another season and if Ronaldinho performs better or equal to Kaka, I think we should cash in on the latter. That is if he wants to go of course. The money would do wonders for the club.
Farhad, Luton
It would be fantastic if we sold him for that kind of money. If I were Galliani I would ask for £100m plus Petr Cech, John Terry and Didier Drogba.
Abulahi
Every player has his price and the fact that Milan have just purchased Ronaldinho helps as he could fill the gap left by Kaka. I would prefer to keep Kaka, but without the funds from the Champions League this season you could see why Milan would snap up the £100m in an aid to commence the rebuilding they so desperately require.
Nick The Suffolk Eye-Talian
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