The Saga Continues

By: Gianfranco | January 15th, 2009

My head is absolutely spinning out of control, I just plain don’t know what to think or make of this Kaka talk anymore. For every reason I think about keeping Kaka, a reason to sell him pop up. For every poor thing Milan does in this situation, Ricky steps up like the true player he is and says the right things. I have never witnessed the football world on baited breath like this just waiting for something anything to come of all of this.

We have discussed this length, and I have played both sides, because quite frankly I don’t know what the right decision is here, I don’t have the answer, and for the first time in a long time I don’t even want to see the result. Sure the money is big, I mean it is really big, and step back from your Rossoneri tifosi shoes for just one second and think about the money, it is a TON. But this move, unlike so many others, is much more than just a bottom line and dollar value.

I want to make a wholehearted attempt in what will become a very lengthy post to wrap my head around this whole situation while in the process arguing the points that have led us to the potential eve of the sale of Kaka, and quite frankly putting Milan in a very strange place in football history.
I won’t deny the fact that in the past I have argued quite adamantly that selling Kaka is not the end of the world, especially if the money is right, and in this case it is very right. My belief stemmed from the fact that teams have done this before, Juventus and Zidane, ManU and Becks, and come out stronger and more successful in the long run. I also stood on the belief that if Milan made 75-100M they could reinforce the squad to a level that we have not seen since the deep unbeatable squads of the early nineties.

I no longer can argue this point so well because things have changed at Milan and in the football world as a whole. First and foremost I no longer trust the Milan brass to invest and reinforce the squad properly. For every good purchase we have made in the last five years, Kaka being one of them, we have made blunders of epic proportion, from Ronaldo to Gila, the funds just have not spent the way they would have in the past. As I poured over comments from the last post, which I barely wanted to take down because they were just all so good, we seem to share in the belief that Milan has always been a club with a strong Italian core and sprinkling of foreign superstars to fill in the gaps. When I look at the Milan squad presently, I no longer see International stars or even the backbone of Italians that once existed. I see a patchwork aging squad without direction or proper makeup. For me the sale of Kaka meant funding this return to the Rossoneri of old, but herein lies the problem.

I don’t know if football as a whole is in a talent drought, but I can’t even big to name a list of players I could truly say I want at Milan and could make a long term difference. Granted these players are out there, and as much as I want a Messi, Alves, Chiellini, Ramos, Giovinco, DeSilvestre, Gamberini, Santacroce, the likelihood of these players arriving is a bit unlikely. Sure money will go a long way, and in the current footballing culture it seems everyone has a price, even Kaka, but would Chiellini really leave, or even Messi or Ramos…I just don’t know, and I wouldn’t bank on it as a sure deal if the money was available, which makes this move even scarier to me.

As I mentioned briefly before, those are players I want, and your list may differ from mine, but ultimately the list that matters is Galliani and Silvio, and considering the rock they have been under, I just don’t see these funds getting put into the right players. I have this recurring image of Ze Roberto signing for the Rossoneri, because well he is Brazilian, out of contract and over the hill. I just don’t want to leave these astronomical decisions that will govern the well being of the club present and future to these two bumbling idiots.

On the flipside if Kaka is sold, and Abate and Gourcuff are brought in to fill his place, it leaves a nice chunk of change to buy defenders and a world class striker that would make teams cringe at his presence, problem is who is that striker? I love Adebayor, but is he the answer? How about Eto? Too old maybe…every question leads to another uncertainty, and I just don’t like it.

What makes matters worse is that during all this discussion we forget to mention one thing and one person who really matters and that is Kaka. Sure he came out yesterday and pledged his allegiance to the club, and for that I respect him more than you know, but what has Milan done to warrant such allegiance and respect. When Kaka claimed he wanted CL football he did so matter of factly, and deservedly so. What did Milan do to help honor his request? Nothing, bringing in Dinho, Flamini, and Sheva was not what this club needed to return to glory. Say what you want about Dinho, but Kaka has done nothing but keep his mouth shut about the inclusion of his Brazilian mate, except a recent article in which he claimed, “Ronaldinho limits my touches on the left side of the pitch, but I will have to learn to play with him.” What has Ronaldinho said in response, nothing, and that bothers me, because this is Kaka’s team, he is the offensive force, and no one should limit his touches and no one should be allowed to do so, and for me the club let him down in this regard.

Another thing about Kaka is his extreme humility which I find so admirable, but makes me wonder what really does make this tick. Maybe he does want to be the man, the star, the show, and that is something Milan also cannot offer with this newfound “Galatico” mentality. He goes to Man City he is the star, he plays with Robinho, who has historically been a much better running mate for Kaka in the Brazilian uniform, and he does what he can never do at Milan, turn the club into a powerhouse. Milan already is, was, a powerhouse, and Kaka only feeds the beast, he didn’t create it. Do I think the EPL is the right league for him? No. He will get fouled so hard on those long glorious runs, but if that is where he wants to be, maybe not what he has said to the media, but should Milan honor his wishes?

What is making this so hard for me is we are hearing a million renditions of the same story, I can’t even link them all if I wanted to. The bottom line is we don’t know what Kaka really wants, we don’t what Fester really wants, hell I don’t know what I really want, which makes this all the more difficult to swallow.

Today I did some interesting research and searched the modern crop of Brazilian superstars, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Dida, Rivaldo, Ze Roberto, Roberto Carlos, Adriano…I can carry the list on forever. But what rang true for most of these guys is that they had a very strong patch, I mean world class play, but not a single one of them could maintain that high level for longer than say a three to five year run. Why is that? Maybe they grow complacent, maybe the money gets to them, whatever it is, it seems to be a Brazilian affliction. What if Kaka is susceptible to it as well, wouldn’t be right to sell now? Maybe he breaks the mold, but that is something that we can never answer, or forecast, we just have to take into consideration in this exhaustive never ending discussion.

I am not done rambling, but I am going to stop for the moment as I near 1500 words, but in the next few days this may or may not get resolved, and we may discuss it for days and weeks to come, but we cannot forget the fact that the Rossoneri have a game on Saturday. Despite all these distractions the team needs to focus and take care of business. Fiorentina is underperforming this season, but is still a very dangerous team, and overlooking them now can prove disastrous and a poor run of form here could put Milan in hole that with or without without Kaka will be impossible to climb out of.

On a lighter note it appears Milan has in fact reinforced the defense with the additions of Daniel Agger and the Brazilian youngster Mattioni. I will flat out say I am not pleased with either move. Mattioni is an RB on team with three of those, and only one LB. Not the right move, and if it takes time away from Antonini who deserves his shot I will be even more upset. As for Agger, he is a Pool castoff and EPL reject much like Senderos. Milan is team of world class players, not cast offs and reject, the misery continues. Maybe I will see these moves in a more positive light in the coming days.