Paddy Agnewprofiles a player who was an instant success to Italian football and who has never been sent off in his six seasons in Serie A
WHEN IT comes to assessing Brazilian Ricardo Izecon Santos Leite, otherwise known as “Kaka”, it is all too easy to agree with his famous (current) employer, AC Milan owner and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who once said of him: “He plays consistently well, he’s a class player who not only wins games for you but he also scores wonderful goals. He’s a good looking boy, the sort of boy all mothers and fathers would want as a husband for their daughter.”
Indeed, 26-year-old Kaka is almost too good to be true. As a footballer, he is the complete article. Explosively fast (he covers the first 40 metres in 3.8 seconds), beautifully balanced, able to play off either foot, he can either set them up or score them himself. Not for nothing, most Italian commentators considered him the outstanding player in Milan’s last major international triumph, their 2007 Champions League title. On top of that his disciplinary record is exemplary – in six seasons in Serie A, he has never been sent off.
Off the field, the story gets better. No late night indiscretions or misbehaviour have besmirched his name. He makes the headlines only through his football. Remember this is the player who, after scoring a goal, will often pull up his jersey to reveal a tee-shirt that reads, “I Belong To Christ”.
He takes his religion seriously – since the age of 14, he has been a member of Igreja Renascer em Cristo, Be Born Again In Christ, a Brazilian protestant sect. Not only does he often point his finger to heaven, by way of thanking the Almighty, after he has scored a goal but he freely admits he carries the Bible with him wherever he goes.
Furthermore, not many modern football superstars would proudly claim, as did Kaka, that he was still a virgin on the day of his wedding three years ago to Brazilian wife, Caroline, mother of their first child, baby Luca.
Not for him either, a future as coach or TV pundit when his career ends. He has already revealed that he has taken a course in theology within his church with a view to one day becoming a Protestant pastor.
Football fans will hope that his days of sermonising are far away because when it comes to playing, there is no questioning this guy’s talent. In an interview with this writer two years ago, Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti swore he would chain himself to the railings outside the offices of Paris-based France Football, if the magazine’s prestigious Balon d’Or award did not go to him. Ancelotti need not have worried since Kaka went on to pick up not only the 2007 European Player of the Year award but also the 2007 Fifa World Player award.
Ancelotti also revealed that such is Kaka’s unique blend of talents that he never gives him instructions, leaving him to decide for himself where and how to play: “Before a match, I never tell Kaka where to play. He handles the situations himself, he decides whether to move forward or back 10 metres. He follows his instinct and that is just fine by me.”
The thing about Kaka is that, right from his arrival in Italy in the summer of 2003 (Milan bought him from Brazilian club Sao Paulo for €9 million), he has looked like the real thing. We all know that Serie A is not an easy league for the newly-arrived foreigner. The tactical rigour and defensive discipline of Italian football can smother the talent of even the most creative midfield players – men like the great French players, Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane, to name but two, took time to find their “sea legs” in the storms of Serie A.
Kaka, however, blossomed almost from day one, so much so that his explosive start with Milan just about guaranteed an early departure from Milan for his illustrious compatriot, Rivaldo. With other players (and indeed with other clubs), this situation could have led to embarrassing public squabbles. Not with Milan and Kaka. At the time, Rivaldo merely commented: “This guy is a phenomenon. How could I be jealous of him, I advised the club to buy him.”
Kaka, then, is not your ordinary Brazilian footballer. Even his background is different. Born the son of an engineer father and a maths teacher mother, he is one Brazilian superstar who does not fit into the cliché role of “poor boy from the favelas”. Rather he comes from a background where, had he failed as a footballer, he would still have found an alternative career.
For the time being, though, the world wants to know if his football career will continue with Milan or Manchester City. Frankly, we doubt that he will be much interested in a move to Manchester. For all his gentle ways, he is a fiercely ambitious player, one who wants to hold onto to his place in the Brazil national team and to win more international trophies. He might well feel that a move to Manchester City, €100 million notwithstanding, will not help either cause.
By the way, that name “Kaka”, where did it come from? Easy, his real first name is Ricardo but kid brother Rodrigo had problems pronouncing that and opted instead for “Caca”, which in time became “Kaka”.
