For Kaka, money is not everything

I don’t know about you, but that sentence warms my heart in the ice cold greedy cynicism of the modern game. Obviously in high profile cases like this it’s hard to separate to media spin from the truth, but regardless, Milan and Manchester have basically been circuses the last fortnight, with tales of arguments, agreements and shifting loyalties almost daily. Today though, the deal is officially off, and more than anything, I for one am relieved. I genuinely feel that had Kaka taken the money and gone to Eastlands then, on some level, my love of football would’ve died too. You see, it's hard to articulate, but personally Kaka is so much more than just one of the greatest talents of the modern era. His attitude, his commitment, his desire to be a winner represents football in its purest and most passionate sense, and had he turned his back on that pretty unique sense of class, then it would mean that everyone truly has their price, and world club football all starts to look fairly meaningless.

Anyway, Italian Prime Minister and Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi explained the Brazilian superstar had decided to snub the £243million deal himself: “It was Kaka who decided to stay. He didn’t even want to listen to the offer, which I believe was very big for him. He chose to stay at this club because he thinks it’s the best club in the world.” This came just hours after hundreds of fans besieged the headquarters of the Italian giants to voice their anger about the possible sale of their idol, and the hardcore fan firm known as the tifosi even held a vigil outside the star’s home.

Berlusconi added: “He is loved by everyone. He was touched by the love of the fans and was moved by his team-mates and all the staff. He has accepted to stay with the contract he has and will not ask for more money. He has confirmed he doesn’t want a penny more, because money is not everything in life. In these last few days he has understood there are more important things than money. We are proud to have such a champion, who is a great player on the pitch but also a big man outside. He refused an offer I believe would have doubled what he earns with us.” After Berlusconi announced the breakdown of talks live on Sky Italia TV, the Brazilian went out on to his flat’s balcony to greet hundreds of fans celebrating the news outside his home. The club president added: “He’s a very spiritual lad and that was what led to his decision, which one has to admire. You can’t refuse a lad who has five or six good years left the chance to create a fortune that will last the rest of his life. So we gave him the opportunity to evaluate their offer. But he didn’t even want to meet the club, because he has higher values. I hope we’ll carry on having success — and with Kaka, everything is possible.”

Kaka himself offered a statement late last night, admitting: “I did what my heart told me to do. At the end what counted was my history, where my ties are and where my heart really lies. I was moved by what fans showed me. I am really happy at this club. All the messages I received meant so much and forced me to choose with my heart. Going to Manchester City could have been a great project but I have prayed a lot in the last few days, looking to understand which was the right team for me and in the end I decided to stay here.”

Ok so this all might seem like a bit of an uncharacteristic circle-jerk for STT, but occasionally when the true balance of this game we all love is threatened, you have to put sarcastic rhetoric and irreverence aside. In a very real sense this transfer could have been the beginning of the end, even more so than the early Abramovich days at Chelsea, and to have a player personally put a stop to it and make a stand against money in favour of club loyalty is actually pretty moving. I’m not sure there are many other players out there that I could actually say this about, but more than anything else, I respect Kaka.

Shopping List

If press reports are to be believed, we could be on the brink of a new era in football spending that will make Abramovich’s Chelsea look positively frugal. I am of course referring to the takeover of Manchester City on Monday by an Arab consortium estimated to be worth around £650billion. Shortly after ushering Brazilian wonderkid Robinho to Eastlands, the leader of the consortium, Dr Al Fahim, revealed the group’s ultimate plans involve the creation of a Harlem Globetrotters-esque dream team. Dr Fahim told The Sun today: “We have big plans for this football club and we’ll be back to try to get him again next year,” vowing to bring more than 18 new players into the club in January, including, get this, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Kaka, Dimitar Berbatov, Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas.Fahim continued: “If we can get the biggest players in the world, then we will get them. Ronaldo has said he wants to play for the biggest club in the world. So we will see in January if he is serious. Real Madrid were estimating his value at £90million. But for a player like that, to actually get him, will cost a lot more. I would think £134million. But why not? We are going to be the biggest club in the world, bigger than both Real Madrid and Manchester United.”

Fahim, sickening young at just 31-year-old, is not short of a bob, but the main cash comes from a chap called Sheikh Munsoor bin Zayed al Nahyan, who has a 90 per cent stake in the consortium. There are genuinely no official estimates of Sheikh Munsoor’s wealth, it is so vast, but in quantifiable terms, he and his five brothers control the Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund, considered to be the biggest in the world and valued at £460billion. The man nicknamed ‘The Doc’ is the personality though, also being a reality TV star back home in their version of The Apprentice, and even having his own flippant catchphrase: “Impress me!”

Not wanting to cast a dark cloud over all this, but in my head this is one of the last nails in the coffin of the Premier League. With this kind of wealth backing them, Manchester City are in a position to do literally anything they want, because ultimately everyone has a price: “Oh, you guys don't want to sell Messi? Ok, well how about we give you £500million, can you turn that down? Thought not, see you later.”

Money Talks

After, let’s be honest, a pretty flat summer of press conjecture and outright lies, the transfer quagmire finally unravelled itself last night in spectacular fashion, causing many members of the STT editorial staff to actually indulge in an inadvertent speed binge just to stay awake in front of Sky Sports News through the night. Ok so there was nothing inadvertent about the meth, but still, I’m sure you’ll appreciate the commitment.

Anyway, the day got off to an interesting start with the breakfast takeover of Manchester City by a multi-billionaire Arab consortium, fronted by a nice chap called Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, who made his first million at some ridiculously young age ‘playing’ with his dad’s stock market portfolio. The Eastlands outfit are now poised to become the world’s richest football club after the takeover was revealed to be worth £220million. The buyers, Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, are reportedly worth between around £650billion and £800billion, compared to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s pathetic fortune of £11.7billion, so to describe them as having “deep pockets” is a bit of an understatement. Following the announcement of this takeover, City began making many audacious bids, including Valencia striker David Villa, Stuttgart’s Mario Gomez, and even wantaway Spurs sulker Dimitar Berbatov.

The real coup however came with the British transfer record signing of Real Madrid forward Robinho, who just two days ago had earmarked himself for Chelsea. In a press conference this past weekend, the Brazilian said: “I’ve already told (coach) Schuster, Pedja (Mijatovic, Madrid’s technical director) and the club that I want to leave, and I’m saying it in front of the press again, as I have many times. The coach thinks he can get me back, but my head is in Chelsea.” Unfortunately for him, it seems that for once Chelsea were a bit too complacent, and thus miraculously beaten to the punch in a £33million deal which will reportedly earn Robinho £90,000-a-week.

Understandably he was a little non-plussed at the whole Ronaldo transfer saga this summer, which saw the one-time golden boy of Madrid cast aside, and even offered as a makeweight to Manchester United in the deal. Real have of course been quick to castigate the flighty superstar, saying that his move to Manchester City is not “for sporting reasons,” but whatever; the fact of the matter is that, for the so-called Biggest Club in the World™, this whole summer has been a bit of an embarrassment. You do wonder though why a player of this caliber, and ambition, would willingly move to a team without Champions League football this season. The only answer unfortunately is money, but surely his wage at Real was equal to £90,000-a-week? Who knows what went on behind the scenes. All we do know is that Manchester City’s next game is against Chelsea, and that Mark Hughes has just under two weeks to learn how to say “just play it long to the big guy up front” in Portuguese.

So moving on then, and to the biggest story that everyone already knew. Yes, Dimitar Berbatov has finally left Spurs and completed his dream move to Manchester United. Ultimately he was never going anywhere else, although Manchester City’s cheeky lunchtime offer ruffled a few feathers. Berbs will undoubtedly cast himself in the mould of other great temperamental United talents as Eric Cantona, but has he really got the work ethic to make that kind of impact? Going the other way in a deal-sweetener was Frazier Campbell, the young United prospect who made such a good impression on loan at Hull last year. The sprightly forward was linked with many other teams yesterday, including Hull and Wigan, but a year-long loan at Spurs could be a great move for all interested parties. Campbell joins other quality deadline-day signings Vedran Corluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko at Juande Ramos’ new-look Tottenham, as they look to build on their decent draw this past weekend at Stamford Bridge.

Looking elsewhere then, and Arsenal once more decided to keep the moths trapped in their wallet, stoically not boosting their thread-bare squad with anyone else. Liverpool meanwhile completed their signing of Albert Riera from Espanyol, as well as picking up two kids I’ve never heard of called Vitor Flora and Peter Guloisi. Newcastle United’s Spanish-speaking revolution also continues, with Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Gonzalaez from Valencia on a season-long loan and Deportivo La Coruna’s creative midfielder Xisco joining Coloccini and Spiderman at St James’ Park, as Kevin Keegan returns to the top-heavy approach that saw him achieve nothing in his previous spell at the Toon. Everton also managed a couple of signings at last, with Louis Saha and keeper Carlo Nash two pretty astute signings on the cheap for the Merseyside outfit. The biggest news though is the club-record signing of Standard Liege playmaker Marouane Fellaini for £15m. Who the hell is he, you might reasonably ask. And our response? Er, no idea really, but he’s no Joao Moutinho. If you believe the media then the Toffees have also agreed a fee for CSKA Moscow’s Brazilian striker Wagner Love, an STT favourite, although word is that the dreadlocked star won’t actually be over here until after the end of the Russian season in January.

Finally, the only other really busy team yesterday was Premier League new boys Stoke City, who look set to consolidate their excellent summer signings with the return of Danny Higginbotham from Sunderland, the addition of Sheffield United string-puller Michael Tonge for £2million, and finally, the interesting purchase of highly-rated Crystal Palace prospect Tom Soares for £1.25million. At least no-one can accuse them of not showing enough intent to stay put in the top flight…

Yesh A Mesh

Prepare for news concerning perhaps the most bizarre potential transfer in recent memory. The word on the street is that Barcelona and Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o shall be signing for Uzbekistan club Kuruvchi by the end of the week, having landed at the world famous Tashkent International Airport this morning. Plenty of pictures of Eto’o and three Barce representatives arriving have been posted on the club’s official website, fuelling rumours of a sensational transfer coup for not only the club, but also the country as a whole. I imagine most people think that Uzbekistan is a made-up country, famous only by association with everyone’s favourite foreign TV correspondent Borat, but no, it’s very much real.

As the old saying goes though, when something sounds too good to be true, it’s probably because it is…like that stripper who’s phone number turned out to just be the local Chinese takeaway. There is almost certainly zero chance of Eto’o actually signing for Kuruvchi, despite the impressive fact that they finished second in their national league last year.

You see, over the last few years several Barcelona players have been invited to Uzbekistan as part of an agreement by the Spanish club to help the development of football in the country formerly ruled by the Soviet Union. It would seem therefore that Kuruvchi have seized the opportunity for some great free publicity by insisting transfer negotiations with Eto’o are ongoing, fuelled by reports from Spain that the striker is surplus to requirements at the Nou Camp.

The club’s sporting director, Bahtier Babayev, is still keen to insist that: “Eto'o will arrive in Tashkent on Thursday and he will sign a contract with our club, at least up until the end of 2008. The term of the contract will depend on our performance in the AFC Champions League. We will play Saipa in the quarter-finals and Eto'o is our main purchase before the knockout stage of the tournament.” Barce have obviously been quick to rubbish these claims, but listening to Babayev, it sounds like a deal has already been done.

Surely somewhere in the world someone slightly more prestigious than Kuruvchi must fancy having Eto’o in their squad next season?!

Malcontents 11

As the season draws to a close with only one weekend of matches left before the title is decided, a number of players are looking to next year, to new opportunities in other cities with bigger paychecks. We've already covered the players most likely to be snapped up by bigger clubs if their team gets relegated, but there are so many players in this league who have had stinking seasons and want to get out of dodge, as well as players who may have outgrown their clubs. If another team was created, with the malcontents and castoffs from the other 20 teams, we reckon this would be the strongest team. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if this was West Ham's starting 11 next year, then.

GK Paul Robinson

The former England number one's career has been on the slide ever since Juande Ramos got his besuited knees under the desk at White Hart Lane, bringing in Radek Cerny as his possible replacement. Robinson has been linked with Villa, Newcastle and West Ham.

LB John Arne Riise

It hasn't been the best season for the hammer footed Norweigan, as he has been kept out of the Liverpool side by Fabio Aurelio. It's a shame, because there was a point when Riise provided plenty of excitement with long range shots and some fairly comical defending. The own goal that let Chelsea back into the Champions League Semi Final will stay for him for a while, though. He will be expensive for anyone who signs him, though. That someone will probably be Newcastle.

CB Micah Richards

Richards isn't necessarily unhappy at Man City, but he wouldn't say no to a megabucks deal from United. It would be hard to see where he would fit in at Old Trafford, with Vidic and Ferdinand showing priapic form this year and Wes Brown showing that he is actually a professional footballer. Still, the guy's only 19 and would be a shrewd investment.

CB Sol Campbell

Campbell has had a decent season on the South Coast, but it looks like his legs have well and truly departed. After some fairly silly comments aimed at the board in January, it appears that Sol won't be kept around for his dressing room presence, either. It looks like a move to Spain or France may be on the cards, but it's hard to believe what the big chap says. His career's not over yet, but it seems that retirement is just one big hissy-fit away these days.

RB Olof Mellberg

After more than 200 games in 7 years for Villa, one of the most solid defenders in the league is off to Juventus on a free transfer. While he may not be pissed off with Birmingham, it looks like Mellberg fancies a new challenge in a different country. The great scenes last weekend on 'Mellberg day' show what he means to fans at Villa Park.

LM Gareth Barry

GazBaz has had something of a breakout season this year, at the ripe old age of 27 and may be getting a bit too big for his boots. Arsenal and Liverpool have been stalking him, waving the filthy lucre under his nose and offering to stuff his pants full of Champion's League football. A move may be lucrative, but probably detrimental to his career. It's unlikely that he'll ever actually look like he's enjoying himself when he's playing, so sour is his demeanour.

CM Mathieu Flamini

It's not clear what's happened behind the scenes at Arsenal, but a number of players really are not very pleased with their situation. After fighting to get a regular starting place anywhere on the pitch for 3 years, Flamini is doing one to Italy after a career defining season, where he has well and truly kept Gilberto sitting on the bench in a huff. I could speculate all day about why he's off, but he spoke to pretty much every club in Serie A before signing with AC Milan, so maybe he just likes sunshine, wine and cinghiale.

CM Steve Sidwell

Who? Oh yeah, he's that ginger guy who was great for Reading last year, but who does he play for now? Chelsea!?!? Really? I don't think he wants to stay there for much longer, having sunk to sub SWP levels.

RW Alexander Hleb

Another casualty of the Arsenal malaise, Hleb's fate is yet to be decided, but it looks like he was listening to Flamini shouting about Italy as he walked out the door. After a strong season, where the less intelligent Arsenal fans have claimed that he is George Best reincarnate, he gave the league something to remember him by by bitch-slapping pundit-in-waiting Graeme Murty. Ouch.

CF Peter Crouch

It's been a difficult season for the big chap, as he's shown what he can do in short spells this season, but Rafa seems to think that this is only marginally better than Andriy Voronin, but not nearly as good as Dirk Kuyt. While few strikers (i.e. none) can complain about being second choice behind Fernando Torres, Crouch's performances this year have warranted him a place in another Premiership team, with Portsmouth and Newcastle leading the pack.

CF Dimitar Berbatov

So little was known about Berbles before he turned up in North London almost 2 years ago, such is the level of exposure of das Bundesliga. There's no need for superlatives with Berbatov, but let's just say that he would do a pretty good job for any team in the world, as long as his head is in the game. Much like Gareth Barry, he sulks his way around the pitch, looking like someone switched his half-time oranges with limes. Still, here's hoping that he stays in the Premiership, but doesn't go to United.

On the Bench:

The rest of the Arsenal Squad, especially Emmanuels Adebayor and Eboue

Frank Lampard

Didier Drogba

Benni McCarthy

El Hadji Diouf