Kaká stays with AC Milan -- for now

By Paddy Agnew, Special to SI.com, World Soccer

AC Milan had agreed to sell Kaká, but the '07 FIFA World Player of the Year decided at the last minute not to move to Manchester City. Andre Yates/AFP/Getty Images

Like just about everything that has to do with AC Milan, the extenuated January saga relative to Manchester City's failure to buy the club's Brazilian ace Kaká for a reported $145 million started and ended with the Rossoneri's all-powerful owner: Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The 72-year-old had surprised us all when he gave the go-ahead to the English club to talk to the player; in the past, Milan had always given short shrift to would-be purchasers of Kaká. This time, and not surprisingly given the huge sum of money involved, Berlusconi and Milan were tempted -- even to the point of waving goodbye to arguably the club's best player of the last four seasons.

However, it was not to be. The deal fell through on the evening of Monday, Jan. 19, exactly one week after the news had broken that Man. City's executive chairman, Garry Cook, was in Milan to negotiate the most expensive transfer of all time. It was Berlusconi himself who took time off from state duties to make the dramatic announcement to the popular TV soccer program, Il Processo Del Lunedi.

"Kaká is staying with us," he declared. "The money does not interest him. He's a wonderful guy."

So what had gone wrong? Two nights earlier, Milan had beaten Fiorentina 1-0 at the San Siro and the game had ended with seemingly emotional embraces between Kaká and his teammates. Many were tempted to conclude that these were indeed "farewell" scenes and that the Man. City deal was as good as done.

Certainly, the Milan fans believed that Kaká was gone, with the Fiorentina game being marked by a series of banners urging the club not to sell him. The fans also staged noisy and angry protests outside the club's headquarters in Via Turati, while other diehard supporters camped outside Kaká's fourth-floor apartment in central Milan in an attempt to persuade him to stay.

The clearest indication that Kaká was on his way out had come on the Saturday afternoon prior to the Fiorentina game when Berlusconi had taken a short break from political campaigning in Sardinia to tell reporters that, "You can't refuse an offer like this." Significantly, in these times of worldwide economic crisis, the Milan owner then went on to suggest that selling Kaká represented a belt-tightening exercise for his club.

If Milan were to hold on to Kaká, he suggested, the Brazilian would be looking for a huge pay raise by way of compensation. At present, Kaká earns $12 million a year with Milan, while Man. City reportedly was offering him $20 million per after taxes. If Kaká got his pay raise, then all his illustrious teammates would be looking for one, too, said Berlusconi, making it clear that he had no intention of granting such across-the-board hikes. All in all, it made much better sense for Milan, disappointment notwithstanding, to sell the 26-year-old.

Berlusconi, the Milan fans, the media and Man. City's Cook all spent the weekend awaiting the arrival from Brazil of Kaká's father, Bosco Leite, who is also the player's manager, with Leite and Cook then expected to wrap up the deal in a meeting in downtown Milan.

Fatal reply

That Monday meeting took place all right, but it allegedly broke down when Kaká's father, after six hours of detailed discussion, eventually asked the golden question: "How much are you offering?" Rather than present the Leite family with an offer there and then, Cook reportedly offered the "fatal" reply to the effect that Man. City would send an e-mail the next day with the formal offer. At that point, Kaká's father got up from the table to phone his famous son and say: "We're just wasting time here, Ricky."

Kaká, a born-again Christian who often wears a T-shirt reading "I Belong to Jesus" under his Milan shirt, explained the outcome the next day to the Milan TV channel, saying: "Milan's history is my history, Milan is my home. In the past Milan had always rejected offers for me but this time, when the club began to examine this offer, I thought maybe this was a sign from God for me to go. I've prayed a lot in these last few days and God told me to stay."