MANCHESTER CITY are not associated with frugality but they made headlines across the globe for no more than the price of some airplane tickets to Milan. They seem to have been thwarted in their plan to spend vast amounts on Kaka. The Brazilian has now spoken of his ambition to stay where he is and become captain of the club in due course.
Relieved Manchester United fans will get back to their well-honed mockery of City, although it is premature to assume that the affair has reached an end. Whatever happens next, this has been a significant day or two. It confirmed just how far Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is prepared to go; the British record acquisition of Robinho for €36 million was a Bosman deal by comparison.
No matter how unreserved the joy at retaining Kaka is proclaimed to be at San Siro, there will be mixed feelings.
Milan failed to qualify for the Champions League last season and are presently slogging their way through a Uefa Cup programme.
It does not look either as if they can win Serie A this year. Agonising as the loss of Kaka would have been, the proceeds could have helped rebuild the side.
City had barely opened negotiations but in Italy it is understood the bidding on Tuesday had already risen to €120 million, although Dida, the veteran goalkeeper, and Rino Gattuso, a midfielder who will not play again until next season after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament, were included in the price.
Rumours that Milan envisaged holding out for €149 million are plausible. Even then the Serie A club felt that a damaging confrontation with the fans would be unavoidable unless Kaka stated publicly that it was his wish to get even richer or, as footballers prefer to put it, accept “a new challenge”.
In an environment where greed is the norm it will be galling for City if they have to accept that the person they targeted would prefer to get by on the immense sums currently at his disposal. For the rest of us the story of the past day or two has been instructive. Other English clubs, in particular, will reflect on it.
There must be consternation at West Ham and Blackburn Rovers who found City in a mood to haggle over Craig Bellamy, Scott Parker and Roque Santa Cruz. It is becoming apparent that City have a twin-track approach, with separate pricing policies in each category.
Mark Hughes does need each type of footballer. Indeed even Kaka would look as if he was in a City jersey by mistake if there was not a basic professionalism around him. Furthermore his influence would be limited.
Robinho, a lesser star, is at the core of a disturbing syndrome for the club. With 11 goals in 15 Premier League games he has lived up to expectations but still could not prevent City from drifting into the bottom third of the table.
It was natural for Hughes to pick out Kaka as the prime target. The midfielder, winner of the world player of the year award for 2007, is a 26-year-old who may still be improving and is scoring more frequently in Serie A.
There would have been an irrational fear that he might, in the manner of Juan Sebastian Veron, become a highly gifted footballer whose transfer value dwindled to vanishing point over a few years when it became apparent that he was not suited to the Premier League.
So long as the owners were willing to buy him, though, Hughes could have had no qualms about Kaka. The supposed wage of €611,595 a week before tax is steep enough to bring on an attack of vertigo but team-mates would not have become sick with envy if he was strewing victories and win bonuses wherever he went. There is nothing new, in any case, about a disparity in wages.
Coping with that is a matter for managers like Hughes.
The club’s difficulties persuading Kaka to agree to a world-record transfer could have repercussions for Robinho’s happiness at the club, according to sources close to the Premier League’s most expensive player.
Robinho is said to be alarmed by City’s poor results and had been led to believe there would be an influx of superstars.
OTHER BIG DEALS
1 Zinedine Zidane - €51.8 million
(Juventus to Real Madrid, 2001)
Following the controversial arrival of Luis Figo in the Spanish capital a year before, Real president Florentino Perez continued his now-infamous Galacticos project with the capture of the then FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane from Italian giants Juventus for a still-world record fee.
2 Luis Figo - €41.1 million
(Barcelona to Real Madrid, 2000)
Perez was elected Real president in the summer of 2000 on the back of his promise to do the unthinkable and bring the star player from arch-rivals Barcelona to the Bernabeu. Upon appointment he was true to his word, breaking the world transfer record by signing Luis Figo.
3 Hernan Crespo - €39.7 million
(Parma to Lazio, 2000)
In the summer of 2000 Sven-Goran Eriksson's Lazio were Serie A champions and flush with cash following the sale of Christian Vieri to Inter Milan a year before for a then-world record fee. They spent €39.7 million on Parma's Hernan Crespo, who finished top scorer in the league in his first season in Rome but was unable to help the club defend their Scudetto and also left for Inter in 2002.
4 Robinho - €36.1 million
(Real Madrid to Man City, 2008)
After having been taken over by the super-rich Abu Dhabi investment group on the final day of the 2008 summer transfer window, the new owners made a signal of their intent by beating Chelsea to the signing of Brazilian star Robinho from Real Madrid in a Premier League record.
5 Gianluigi Buffon - €35.6 million
(Parma to Juventus, 2001)
With Parma selling off their best players Italian giants Juventus pipped Roma to the signing of Azzurri stopper Gianluigi Buffon for €35.6 million – which remains a world record sum for a goalkeeper.
