Tapped Up [15/01]
I was about to post about the beginning of the end of top class British football as we know it, but luckily it seems things have changed.
Yesterday, Kaka was saying how he wanted to grow old in Milan. This morning however, I saw reports on the BBC site detailing otherwise:
Manchester City assistant manager Mark Bowen says Brazilian superstar Kaka is “very close” to a world record-breaking transfer from Italian giants AC Milan.
A City delegation has been in Italy and reportedly made a bid in the region of £100m for the midfielder.
The 26-year-old had earlier vowed to stay at the San Siro but Bowen told BBC Sport Wales: “We believe the deal is very close.
“We are selling the future plans of the club to the player.”
However, once again it seems its not going ahead:
Manchester City have withdrawn their £95 million offer for Kaka, according to reports in Abu Dhabi.
Arabianbusiness.com claim that a senior source close to the club’s owners has said the offer, which amounted to around £13.6m a year in wages after tax, is no longer on the table and Mark Hughes is close to completing the signing of another player.
If, and its a big if it seems, but if Kaka does end up playing for Manchester City, getting 500 grand richer by the week, it will be the cancer that will eventually kill English top flight football. It was bad enough with Arsenal and Chelsea (et al) shunning English talent and opting for younger talent from Europe, which many argue is seriously harming the English national side, but even they do not have a limitless amount of cash to throw at any player Mark Hughes is after. City’s youth setup will be deemed worthless, current players like Stephen Ireland and Micah Richards will be nothing more than backups and reserves, and when the day arrives when the Sheikh loses interest and removes his wealth, where do City go from there? Don’t think that possibly couldn’t happen, even Chelsea have had to balance their books over the last eighteen months to make their figures look more respectable, spending £600 million in just five and a bit years does not make the future sound rosey, and for what, a side that struggles at home, a side that looked lost and clueless facing their nearest rivals this past weekend. Do they look like a side worth that figure?
Kaka is not worth £95 million. He’s not worth £46 million, just like Zidane was not worth £46 million. It’s not that he isn’t world class, because he is, but no player is worth that amount, financial downfall or no financial downfall.
From the Guardian column:
“…If we accept football’s right to operate within its own financial parameters then we have to accept the right of people like Sheikh Mansour to make fools of us all…”
It’s ok to have a comment.