When Kaka was linked with a move to Manchester City in 2009, AC Milan fans protested at the club’s headquarters, and even outside Kaka’s house, demanding that the club did not sell their star player. There are several versions of how Kaka’s move to City never materialised. City’s chief executive, Gary Cook, claimed that Milan had ‘bottled’ out of the deal, Kaka claimed he never wanted to leave Milan, and Milan claimed they had never considered selling him.
It was not surprising that City had bid upwards of £100million trying to tempt the Brazilian to England. After joining AC Milan for a modest £8million in 2003, the 21 year old took Serie A by storm. He won multiple player of the year awards, and helped Milan to a Serie A title in 2004 and the Champions League in 2007, the same year he won the Ballon d’Or as Europe’s best player.
Playing as an attacking midfielder, he scored 94 goals in his six years with Milan and was consistently one of the best players in the Champions League (he scored 10 goals when Milan won the trophy). When City tried to sign him in 2009, he was sought out as the biggest name available to a club desperate to make a spectacular superstar signing to signal their intent to become one of Europe’s elite.
Although that move never happened, by the summer of 2009 Kaka would no longer be a Milan player.
In May of 2009, Florentino Pérez announced his candidacy for president of Real Madrid for a second time. His first term with Madrid had been the infamous Galacticos era, when he signed many of the world’s elite players, including Luis Figo, Ronaldo and Zidane. Despite early success, including two La Liga titles and a ninth European Cup victory, it didn’t last, and Madrid had a barren spell of three seasons without winning any trophies until Pérez left in early 2006.
AC Milan, Arsenal, Kaka, Real Madrid, Tottenham
But when he returned for a second spell in 2009, he immediately embarked on a massive transfer spree, making Kaka the first player to sign up for Madrid’s second Galacticos revolution. Kaka left Milan for a world record £59million in early June. It was merely the beginning for Madrid, as a few days later they broke the transfer record again, when Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for a staggering £80million. Raul Albiol, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso also arrived in Madrid, attempting to stop Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona from dominating Spanish football.
But in the two seasons since this spending spree, only the 2011 Copa Del Rey has been added to Madrid’s trophy room. At the end of the 2009-10 season, Madrid had accumulated 96 points from 38 games, failing to win just 7, and scoring 102 goals. Incredibly, this was not enough to win the league, as Barcelona lost just a single game and won La Liga with 99 points. Second place was not enough to keep manager Manuel Pelligrini in a job, and Jose Mourinho was appointed in the summer.
To this point however, the signing of Kaka has been somewhat of a disappointment. He made just 25 league appearances in his first season with the club, scoring a total of 9 goals. But Kaka’s time in Spain has been plagued by injuries. Before last season he had major knee surgery, and played in fewer than half of Madrid’s games. And this summer, he was linked with moves away from Madrid. Arsenal and Spurs were both linked with him, but he ultimately stayed with Real.
He has finally started a season seemingly fully healthy, and scored in Madrid’s convincing 6-0 win in the first La Liga game of the season. But in that game and the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup, he was only a substitute. Although he has publically stated that he wants to stay with Madrid, it’s unclear whether or not Mourinho has a first team spot for the now 29 year old Brazilian. This season will give Kaka the chance to re-establish himself as one of the world’s elite players, but it remains to be seen whether or not he still has the abilities that once made him the world’s most expensive footballer.
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