Thursday, June 4, 2009

Kaka to Chelsea? Kaka to Madrid? Kaka to Milan?
An Early Silly Season Sampler

Stay tuned: Kaka might be wearing Chelsea blue, Real Madrid purple, or Milan black and red next season; sounds like he's got the whole rainbow covered there. And we know since he's no longer the last Brazilian virgin alive, at least he won't be wearing white--home whites notwithstanding.

While we wait for the Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid talks to sizzle again, let's fire up the Silly Season cauldron and talk about Kaka's impending departure from the San Siro. Silvio Berlusconi, Italy prime minister, senior G8 leader and owner of A.C. Milan (I wonder if Obama wants to pony up for the White Sox?), says Kaka may be leaving Italy after all, but over his dead body is he going to Stamford Bridge with former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Berlusconi, ahem, hates(?) Ancelotti. He all but blamed Ancelotti for Milan's dismal season and said he had the magic formula for on-field success all along; the manager just wasn't listening to the owner. Berlusconi told Canale 5 in Milan (a channel he owns):

"This season Milan didn't play with the tactics I suggested. They only did so in the last game which allowed us to qualify for the Champions League. Games were lost because in the last minutes the team failed to play the way I advised."

Berlusconi bristled that Ronaldinho was a substitute for much of the season, and decisions such as that one led to a lack of team morale in Milano.

Kaka, meanwhile, would fetch many Euros for Milan, which finished third and qualified for the Champions League on the final day of the Serie A season. The club reportedly lost $70M Euros last year, and selling Kaka to Madrid would recoup most if not all of that sum.

As for Ancelotti, he's tweaking his former club, hinting that he'd like to see Kaka play for him at Chelsea, and while he's at it, why not bring over teen sensation Alexandre Pato and/or Andrea Pirlo. Hell, Roman Abramovich's Russian rubles stretch pretty far, don't they?

It's funny how easy it is to goad non-football people into pissing matches about something that really isn't their element. One would think Berlusconi has enough to entertain himself with--you know, running the country!--that he'd leave football to football people. But boys will be boys, and we all know it's the boy with the most toys who wins.

Berlusconi, however, is going to lose one toy it looks like. Kaka has likely played his last match for Milan and will likely end up playing for Real Madrid, which is desperately trying to regain stride with European champions, Barcelona.

Meanwhile, I'll call it now: Wanna bet that somehow, some way, Milan and Chelsea end up in the same group in the Champions Leauge?

Subscribe to Starting Eleven

No comments: