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Daily Mirror
"Railroaded Kaka 'feels forced into Manchester City move'"
Kaka has told his AC Milan team-mates he is "bitter" at being flogged to Manchester City.
The
Samba superstar opened his heart to his Milan pals during an emotional
meeting at Clarence Seedorf's restaurant in the city on Thursday night.
Kaka
told them he feels betrayed that Milan are willing to cash in on him in
a world record £108million deal after previously rejecting bids from
Chelsea and Real Madrid.
The Brazilian responded to City's
blockbusting offer by claiming he wanted to "grow old at Milan" and he
is under contract until 2013.
The midfielder's switch to City,
which has sent such huge shockwaves through the football world and
beyond, is expected to be rubberstamped next week.
Kaka, 26, is set to tell City's executive chairman Gary Cook he is ready to join their Blue revolution on Monday.
His dad and agent, Bosco Leite, is flying in from Brazil this weekend to meet Cook and the rest of City's highpowered delegation
The Blues will offer to fly Kaka to Manchester to show off Eastlands and their revamped Carrington training complex.
They
are even making plans to put up the former World Player of the Year in
the plush penthouse suite in the city's Radisson Edwardian.
Sven
Goran Eriksson made the appropriately-named Valentino suite his home
last season and Robinho also stayed there when he arrived in September.
Kaka
feels badly let down by Milan and the club have admitted on their own
TV channel that City's offer is too good to turn down.
City's billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour has totally changed the football landscape and Ancelotti admitted as much yesterday.
"The
stories change," he said. "You cannot think of the football of 20 years
ago. Today great investors are entering football and it's normal and
right to evaluate everything in this way.
"I believe there is a
negotiation ongoing and hence, it's something the club will have to
evaluate with the player. My hope is that I can coach Kaka for many
more years, but we have to look at what the club evaluates regarding an
offer that has been presented."
Milan fans are furious at the
prospect of losing their star player and plan to protest at today's
Serie A clash with Fiorentina at the San Siro.
Vice-president
Adriano Galliani has even received death threats, prompting worried
Milan officials to hire bodyguards to protect him.
Whatever
opposition Milan's Ultras can muster, it is already too late. Milan
legend Paolo Maldini summed up the mood of disbelief and anger when he
said it would be a disaster for the Rossoneri if Kaka were sold.
"This
decision rests with the club, but I can only stress that Kaka is very
important to us and that his exit would be hugely negative," he said.
"This deal sounds incredible. No player is worth this much, not even Cristiano Ronaldo."
City
boss Mark Hughes hopes Kaka will be excited by City's ambitious plans
to become one of the world's top sides when he meets Cook on Monday.
The Guardian
"For us, Kaka is the ultimate craque of modern times"
Brazil's leading football writer on why the planet's best player will be worth every penny to Man City
We have a saying in Brazil: "Those who have money, pay. And those who don't, applaud."
If
Manchester City have the money to hire the best player in the world,
congratulations to them. They will not regret the investment. It
matters little if Kaka came in behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi
and Fernando Torres at Fifa's Gala contest this month. This does not
mean he is a worse player. It is one thing to have a great season; it
is quite another to be a genuine superstar.
Kaka is the best
player on planet earth and wasn't credited as such in Zurich only
because 2008 held some disappointments for him – physical problems that
put him on the surgeon's table, preventing him from showing his art at
Milan or even in the Brazil side. Had it not been for these problems,
he had everything to have finished in first place like the year before.
A
"craque" or "superstar player" is the player who can execute a
high-level move with a great level of difficulty but do it with such
naturalness that supporters think it looks easy. Kaka is one of these
stars. What's more, he goes on to the pitch without the intention of
showing off unnecessarily. Football is serious for Milan and Brazil's
idol, not a presentation of the Cirque du Soleil.
Kaka has spirit
and knows that football is war and seeks his goals tirelessly, only
dribbling when required. The moment he gets away from his markers and
gets the goalkeeper in his sights he tries to score. More importantly,
he takes his profession seriously. He's not one for nightlife, he takes
care of himself like few others and he keeps himself at the ideal
weight.
I can't compare players in different positions but I
consider Kaka more professional than Cristiano Ronaldo, Fifa's chosen
one; I consider him more experienced than Messi, a decisive player of
rare ability; and I believe his talent is more refined than that of the
excellent Torres. This is not "Brazilianism" on my part. All of the
other three players are marvellous also.
I have been following
Kaka's career for a long time. I was there when he first arrived in the
national side. His debut was in 2002 in [the Brazilian city] Goiania,
during a friendly against Bolivia. He was only 19 then and Brazil won
the game 6-0. Kaka came on in the second half.
When he was even
younger he started to show his art at Sao Paulo, the team that raised
him. So much so that even before he was in the national side he was
already one of the players who the fans most chased after in the hotel
lobby. When the lift door opened and he came out, chaos would break
out. You would hear the hysterical screams of the girls, who thought
Kaka was as handsome as a movie star and would tell everyone they were
in love with him.
Since Kaka made no secret of his religion,
evangelical pastors and missionaries would also seek him out to talk
about the Bible. Kaka was well brought up and, unlike many footballers,
had everything as a child; comfort, education and a good family. His
father, an engineer, travels with him whenever he can on his journeys.
Kaka
does not like to be asked about his idols. When he first came into the
Brazilian team he made this clear and his answer made sense. Speaking
about Zico and Rai, players he admired, he said: "More than idols, Zico
and Rai are examples. I'm just sorry I never saw Pelé play."
Back
then, as he first came into the national side, Kaka was already
dreaming of playing in the World Cup. "The greatness of a World Cup
says it all. The world stops to watch it. Of course I dream about it. I
can't be satisfied with making it into the Brazilian side. I still have
a long road ahead of me," he said, before he had even been picked for
the World Cup, recalling that he had started playing football aged 12.
From that moment on, he said, he had never imagined himself in any
other profession. "If it doesn't work out as a player, I would
certainly go into physical education."
Not everything in Kaka's
life was easy. He underwent a major drama in 2000 when he was 17. While
on holiday with his family in Caldas Novas, a city in the state of
Goias known for its natural spas, he fell in a swimming pool and
fractured a vertebra. He suffered greatly from fears about a difficult
recovery but he never gave up. He was back in action within two months,
going back to training at Sao Paulo and becoming one of the great stars
of world football.
Kaka is obstinate. Nothing can make him give
up on something he has planned. Without doubt it is this virtue that
has helped him succeed in his profession and made him a star with a
£100m price tag.
Antonio Maria Filho is a Brazilian sports writer
and author of the weekly column Panorama Esportivo in Brazil's O Globo
newspaper - Translation by Tom Phillips
The Sun
"Man City in £8m Given bid"
MANCHESTER CITY have upped their bid for Newcastle keeper Shay Given to £8million.
Boss Mark Hughes had an offer of £5m rejected out of hand by Toon chiefs who are desperate to keep their long-serving No 1.
Republic
of Ireland international Given, who moved to St James’ Park in July
1997, still has two years to run on his Newcastle contract.
The unsettled stopper, 32, has also attracted interest from Arsenal and Tottenham.
Earlier this month, Given’s lawyer released a statement detailing the depth of his frustration with life on Tyneside.
The Independent
"City seek to trump Spurs for midfielder"
Tottenham
were last night fearful that their £12m bid for the Wigan midfielder
Wilson Palacios had been hijacked by Manchester City. The Spurs
manager, Harry Redknapp, was told by Wigan that his club's original
bid, which had been accepted, had been significantly trumped by another
club, understood to be City.
As Tottenham tried to keep alive the
deal for Palacios, 24, they were also preparing to admit defeat to the
new power in the English transfer market. It followed a day of twists
and turns in which Wigan had originally offered Palacios a new contract
to try to persuade him to stay. Wigan then said that they were prepared
to allow Palacios to leave for Spurs if that was his wish. While
Palacios was left to make up his mind, it is understood that City made
a decisive bid.
Frustratingly for Spurs they were not even able
to ascertain how much City had offered for the player, who has
developed into one of the most promising midfielders in the country
under Steve Bruce's management at Birmingham City and Wigan. City have
been in the market for a holding midfielder and have already failed
with two bids to prise Scott Parker away from West Ham this month.
The
interest in Palacios from City is understood to be on top of that which
they have in Nigel De Jong, the Dutch midfielder at Hamburg whom they
bid £13m for yesterday.
The transfer was still in doubt last
night because Palacios himself had not yet made up his mind whether he
wanted to leave Wigan. Earlier in the day Redknapp had said that his
chairman, Daniel Levy, was "pretty close to doing a deal" but that
changed later. The Spurs chairman was understood to be enthusiastic
about signing Palacios, who is a relatively young player.
Palacios
was picked up by Bruce on the recommendation not only of Arsène Wenger,
with whom Palacios trained at Arsenal for a trial, but also his
long-serving assistant, Eric Black, who has a good network of contacts
in football. Before City's intervention in the deal, Bruce said that
Palacios' development has been an "unbelievable success story".
Kakamania |
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Daily Mail
"It's up to you Kaka: Milan tell Brazil star he can open £100m talks and next on City hit-list is £15m midfielder De Jong"
AC
Milan have paved the way for Brazil star Kaka to complete a £100million
move to Manchester City by giving him permission to speak to the
Barclays Premier League club.
The Serie A giants have decided
it is time for Kaka to go and, in a remarkable move, put the onus on
him by stating on their own official TV channel that a deal was on.
Although
the message implored Milan's fans to beg the 26-year-old to stay, it
went on to suggest that 'this could be the right figure' due to the
'current harsh economic climate'.
Sportsmail can reveal that City are also close to another signing, that of Hamburg's Holland holding midfielder Nigel de Jong.
The
24-year-old is valued at £15m and City manager Mark Hughes sees him as
the club's future anchorman after failing in bids to sign Scott Parker
from West Ham and Lassana Diarra (now at Real Madrid) from Portsmouth.
But
it is the Kaka deal that is the talk of football and in Italy Milan's
latest move was seen as a clear indication that the club are preparing
for the former World Player of the Year to leave.
Milan's TV
channel also claimed Kaka would earn 20m euros a year after tax - the
equivalent of £30m a year or £600,000 a week. Again, releasing such
astounding details was seen as an attempt to gain the sympathy of their
hugely passionate fans for allowing him to leave.
Milan
vice-president Adriano Galliani was silent on the matter last night and
Milan were quick to suggest the statement from the TV channel did not
represent the club's official view. However, this was not being taken
seriously in Italy.
Milan captain Paolo Maldini did weigh into the debate and suggested it would be a disaster for the club if Kaka left.
The Sun
"Sparky: This is all down to me"
By MARTIN BLACKBURN
MARK HUGHES insists HE is driving the stunning bid to bring Brazilian superstar Kaka to Manchester City.
Critics
suggested the club’s Arab owners have targeted the AC Milan ace as
their ‘marquee signing’ without consulting manager Sparky.
But
Hughes maintains the billionaires are acting on his recommendations as
they bid to smash the world transfer record by sealing a £242million
deal.
He also revealed the move has excited £32.5m signing
Robinho — who knows Kaka well from playing alongside him in the Brazil
national team.
Hughes dismissed suggestions the Milan playmaker
would not be his signing, saying: “We’re a football business, it’s a
football decision first and foremost.
“It has to stand at a football level and that’s my level, I make my recommendations.
“Then
we try and pursue a process to get to the point where we feel we can
present something to the player’s club. And that’s where we find
ourselves this week.
“But the truth of the matter is that decisions start at a football level and that’s my remit, to make recommendations.
“Once
we decide that is a target we can pursue, there’s the business side and
the financial package that it takes to bring a player of that quality.
“That’s when it passes over to the owner and the chairman.”
Hughes
has been under pressure following City’s shock FA Cup exit at the hands
of Nottingham Forest earlier this month. So the City chief was not
surprised by the suggestions.
He added: “It was predictable before it even happened. But it would be wrong if people tried to separate me from the decisions.
“Anyone who says it’s above my head is naive to think that. People should not think this is just being done on a whim.
“Our
executive chairman Garry Cook, chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak and I have
discussed this for numerous months and Kaka was in our thoughts right
from the outset.
“It is not something we have only thought of
in the last week and decided to act. But it has moved forward at a pace
this week.”
Hughes admitted Robinho is a big fan of his fellow
Samba star — but added the whole City squad has been excited since news
of City’s interest in the superstar broke earlier this week.
He
said: “Has there been a buzz? You could say that. Although there would
be more of a buzz if the players turn up at the car park and walk
through the door.
“We’re nowhere near that. It’s a long process
as we’ve seen — it’s 15 days in and we’ve not been able to bring
players through. It doesn’t move that quickly.
“Does Robinho rate him? Oh yes.”
City
are likely to speak to Kaka, 26, and his representatives early next
week to try and convince him to join the Eastlands revolution.
While
Champions League football is not on the cards for next season, Sparky
is still promising exciting times ahead for the club.
He said:
“Everybody knows we’re at the beginning of a long journey and if people
want to join us they’ll have a fantastic time in the coming years.
“That’s
what we try to sell them if we get chance to speak to players. People’s
attitude to City changed the moment the club was taken over by Sheikh
Mansour. That’s the situation.
“The fact we are interested in a player like Kaka, a player of his quality, shows the owner’s intent.”
But Hughes has warned Blackburn and West Ham he will not be held to ransom over Roque Santa Cruz and Craig Bellamy.
Rovers value Paraguay striker Santa Cruz at £20m while Hammers want £15m for Welshman Bellamy.
But Sparky said: “Maybe City will always be asked for a premium from this point onwards.
“But we place a value on players and we stick to them. If clubs ask for too great a premium that is their choice.
“I guarantee if the value is not good for Manchester City, we will walk away.”
The Independent
"City allowed to start Kaka talks"
Manchester
City's attempts to sign Kaka gathered pace last night as the club were
given permission to speak to the player by Milan, who began their own
campaign to maintain fans' support, by placing the ball firmly in the
Brazilian's court and making it clear he will have to demand to leave.
Though
Milan's in-house TV station said the club is considering City's offer,
persuading the player is the next task. To that end, City are to meet
Bosco Leite, Kaka's father and chief adviser, in Manchester, to show
him what they have to offer, the player's spokesman Diogo Kotscho
indicated last night. That as yet unscheduled meeting may take place in
the next few days. Kotscho also indicated last night that Kaka had not
rejected City's approach, despite quotes attributed to him on Wednesday
suggesting he wants to "grow old" at Milan.
"It's an
exaggeration [to say] that it's almost a done deal and it's an
exaggeration that Kaka has rejected the offer," Kotscho said. "Milan
has authorised the negotiation with Manchester City ... the next step
now is that Kaka's father will eventually talk to Manchester City."
City's
executive chairman, Garry Cook, knows the player must be persuaded to
leave in a way which does not cause Milan to lose face. There is a view
in some quarters at City that Kaka may hold a press conference next
week announcing his departure. Such an exit would mirror the way Andrei
Shevchenko left Milan for Chelsea three years ago and Robinho's exit
from Real Madrid for Eastlands last year.
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