Tuesday, January 20, 2009

One of a Kind

When Manchester City was bought by an Abu Dhabi consortium in August last year, the poorer cousin of Man Utd suddenly became the richest football club in the world.

With money to burn, the sheiks are looking for the best players in the world as they seek to make Man City one of top clubs in the world. Reports had said since the start of the season that their top target is Kaka. No wonder; the 26-year-old Brazilian midfielder was FIFA's player of the year in 2007 and he is also a proven winner, leading AC Milan to the European Champions League title. With money not a problem for them, Man City offered AC Milan a world record transfer fee of $150 million. Not only that, they offered Kaka an annual reported to be above $50million. $50 MILLION!

With such figures being thrown around, it’s no wonder that AC Milan agreed to the deal. However talks over the record-breaking transfer end when Kaka said no to Manchester City. He said NO to $50 million!

Silvio Berlusconi, AC Milan's owner, told Man City there would be no deal when Kaka informed him that he love it in Milan and does not want to move to England. In an age when football players will try every trick in the book to move clubs for more money and a bigger stage (see Ashley Cole, Dimitar Berbatov etc), Kaka is one of a kind.

It’s kind of refreshing that for one player at least; money isn't everything and that loyalty still counts for something. I thought such players were extinct already! Count me as a new fan of Kaka!

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