Roman: Get me Kaka

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ROME: Chelsea’s billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich is set to obliterate the transfer world record with a US$238mil (150mil euros) bid for AC Milan’s Kaka, according to yesterday’s Gazzetta dello Sport.
The daily sports newspaper claims Abramovich is ready to surpass even the 100mil euros Real Madrid are reportedly willing to pay in a bid to lure Cristiano Ronaldo away from Manchester United.
Gazzetta claim Chelsea’s move for Kaka is tantamount to a ‘mission impossible’ but adds that Abramovich will not be deterred.
And according to Kaka’s spokesman in Brazil Diogo Kotscho, the Brazilian would net 10% of the world record transfer fee.
“The Kaka-Chelsea operation would benefit everyone involved,” said Kotscho. “For Kaka there would be 10 per cent of the transfer fee – 15mil euros – as well as a new contract.”
Milan, though, are desperate to hold onto the current world player of the year as they look to win their first Serie A title since 2004.
They recently won the race – with Manchester City – to prise another Brazilian Ronaldinho from Barcelona and will be loath to lose their best player just after adding world class attacking reinforcements to their squad.
But now even Kaka seems to be warming to the idea of a switch to London, saying before leaving Sao Paulo to return to Milan: “These are two teams that want me – I don’t know how things will finish.”
Kotscho, though, is pushing for the move claiming: “Chelsea are the right team (for Kaka). They’re are a team who want to win everything.”
However, Chelsea boss Peter Kenyon yesterday denied a record-breaking bid to lure Kaka from AC Milan but said the club were still chasing Real Madrid’s Robinho.
“There was no offer made. I have read the same articles. They have made it clear that he is not for sale and we will make it clear we have not made an offer,” Kenyon said in Guangzhou, China, where the team kick off their pre-season tour.
“There is no reason to negotiate over something they don’t want to do and we have not made an offer.”
Milan are determined not to lose Kaka and the club’s vice-president Adriano Galliani claimed on Sunday that he is irreplaceable and dismissed notions of a Chelsea bid of this nature.
“Ricky (Kaka) is an untransferable player and Chelsea have never made such a bid,” he said.
There is more than a battle for Kaka between Chelsea and Milan at stake, though, with Italian football’s pride also on the line.
A week ago the press lauded the return of Italian football to the transfer top table after Milan beat off English opposition to sign Ronaldinho.
That was seen as a reversal of recent trends that had seen Italy’s best unable to compete with teams from Spain and particularly England for the signatures of top players.
But if an English team manage to lure the world’s best player away from an Italian team, a dark gloom will surely descend once again over Italian football’s collective ego.