Kaka in Blue, they needed the money

by Tim

It’s strange being a football fan. One day we’re arguing over whether it’s right to even argue about whether it’s right to criticize players, the club, and the boss and the very next day Kaka is sold to Real Madrid for a world record £59m making every football fan pause, take a breath and assess their club’s situation.

As Arsenal supporters we are used to the constant speculation linking our players out of the club: Fabregas has supposedly been going back to Barcelona now pretty much as far back as I can remember. If anything, this is an odd year for Gooners because we haven’t seen the ubiquitous “Cesc to Barca” summer story; perhaps Iniesta and Messi winning the Champions League has something to do with that. But whatever the case there hasn’t been much speculation about Arsenal players at all this season, really. There was a brief moment when Adebayor mentioned the word “Milan” which was spun into a tragicomedy about Milan “keeping tabs” on Ade and there is some speculation that Inter might go after Robin van Persie, but that’s it as far as any transfer speculation for Arsenal players. Maybe that will “hot up,” as the Brits say, now that Kaka has made the move to Madrid.

I kind of doubt it. After this season where he clearly wasn’t motivated to play his best, I think Arsenal are stuck with Adebayor. No matter the brilliant goals, potential buyers are going to wonder if taking a chance on this once brilliant player is worth the risk. Similarly with Robin van Persie, even though he’s had arguably his best season with Arsenal teams will have to look at his injury record and wonder what the return on their investment is going to look  like. Both of these guys are capable and I like both players when they are on, but both are going to be risky investments.

You also have to take into account the global financial climate, Kaka evidently did when he made his move, and ask what kind of money teams are going to be tossing around. Even after netting nearly £60m in the deal, if AC Milan are having as much financial troubles as Kaka says, then what are they going to be willing to splash out in transfers? After all, Milan, he says, are run like a business. Maybe they will take a look at Adebayor and maybe they will take a look at Dzeko, the player is certainly star struck by the prospect of signing for Milan. Either way, I expect Milan not to use all of their cash.

Meanwhile, the “financial crisis” at Liverpool is sparking rumors of a mass exodus of midfielders from Anfield. Last week Liverpool basically said that Alonso was only available for £23m+ and sensing blood in the water Mascherano and his agent are now putting out feelers for a transfer to Barca. Who know what crazy Liverpool would do with the money they netted IF they sold both of those guys, spread some around, pay off some debts, who knows.

And, of course, we shouldn’t rule out the insanity that will occur when City make some serious bids for world players. Or what happens when Ronaldo goes to Real Madrid for a new, new, world record? Maybe that will loosen everyone’s purse strings.

It’s not just transfers that are going to distort the market, England passed a tax increase raising the taxes on top earners to 50% and that too could have a deleterious effect on our favorite league. Already Arshavin has had to deny rumors that he was unhappy with the pay cut he felt he was going to take. What effect will this tax increase have on contracts and the ability for clubs like Arsenal to woo potential signings? Again, I’m uncertain.

In fact, if there’s anything I’m certain of, it’s that I’m uncertain. Unlike last year where I foolishly proclaimed my certitude about Arsenal’s future and that they wouldn’t be signing a defensive midfielder, this year I have no clue what Arsenal are going to do. It’s looking like we are going to sign Vermaelen for nearly £11m, but no one knows for sure. Vermaelen is either a defensive signing and will take the place of Toure or Gallas, or he’s the defensive midfielder that we’ve all been looking for, again no one knows. Hell, no one can even agree on how to pronounce his name!

I guess I’m just going to embrace this unknown. Hmmm… it’s a bit exciting not knowing what’s going to happen, like Christmas when you’re a kid. Hey is Barca really are after Mascherano, maybe we will get the Yaya that everyone put on their Christmas wish list.

Who knows?

0 comments

  1. Well I have a few comments about the stories today. Firstly, if Mascherano moves to Barca, he’d have taken a move backwards in his career. There’s “talks” of Yaya being a bit doubtful over his Barca career but nothing is set in stone. Off the bat, Mascherano is on the bench to Yaya, and if not Yaya then you cannot deny Busquet’s world class display in containing Man Utd in the CL final. Busquet is from the Barca acadmey so he’s already immersed in the team and culture so why would Macherano move to Spain to shine the dugout seats because he’s effectively behind 2 top class players in CM.

    If you believe the papers then Yaya has said Arsenal are not his preferred destination due to not being able to earn perhaps a six figure a week salary since most of our top earners are typically capped at 80K a week – these greedy footballers.

    If Milan sign Dzeko and they look like they could with the Kaka money because he’s actually pretty cheaply rated at about 8-10M, then we either have to off-load Ade quickly to Chelsea before he gets stale or we demand results from him. Personally, I’m about fed up with his hijinx and could care less to see him go – he’s a bit of a disease right now and has certainly not proved he is worth the hassle. At least Thierry was the best striker in the world when he made the fuss over moving to Barca.

  2. Adebayour really needs to sort himself out, because he is overconfident with his abilities and needs to take a step back and see what did he did wrong and improve himself for next season. He needs to realize that he is not one of the top strikers in the world just because he scored 30+ goals in a season. Now that Milan are less interested in him he will understand that it was just a one night stand. Arsenal should sell him but if we can’t then he really needs to work hard to get in first XI because of bedtner, eduardo, vela, van persie and arshavin are the guys that he is competing with. I was very dissapointed by his comments and lack of respect for fans as he didn’t handle the press very well. And also he really needs to stop blaming other things for his performances.

  3. Looks like Dzeko is bound for AC Milan

    http://www.setanta.com//uk/Articles/Football/2009/06/09/Serie-A-Galliani-on-Dzeko/gnid-56443/

    This means one less suitor for Ade. I cant see many other clubs who have the money and desire to sign him outside of the rumored Chelsea and Inter, both of which makes no sense because of Zlata, Anelka and Drogba. Plus, selling Ade to Chelsea would be like cutting off our head to spite the tongue.

    Like it or not, we probably will still have the Dade come this season. Which in turn means we had better support him vocally or we will have a 2M dead weight on our hands.

  4. Cant see Mascherano going to Barca. Barca’s holding midfielders are technically very sound – something Mascherano is not. He is more of a tough tackler who breaks up plays. You take guys like Busquet and Yaya – yes they have size but they have tremendous ability on the ball specially Busquet, who at his young age can protect the ball as well as anybody.

    Yeah it looks more and more like we are going to be stuck with Adebayor. Sucks!

  5. BAD NEWS… Fabregas has gotten a nasty head injury during the todays match and had to be replaced. I hope nothing serious has happened.

  6. What Mr Arshevin needs is a good accountant, not a pay rise!

    Will Kaka be any better at unReal Madrid, than at AC Milan? I thought he lived up to his name, (phoenetically) most of the time.

    Anyone seen the non story about Dynamo Zagreb wanting to borrow Dudu? Perhaps we could lend them Ade, and they could pay his wages. Seriously, I’d sooner believe aliens have taken Harry Redknapp in the belief they were rescuing one of their own, marooned on earth; even better if they took his bigotted anti-Arsenal son as well.

    Viva!

  8. The big transfer nobody is talking about is Ribery. Unlike Kaka, he has much more upside, and works 10 times harder on the pitch. The affectionate joke in France about Ribery is that he has only one gear: The Top Gear.
    He may go at a higher price than Kaka. I believe he can dominate in the EPL, but he has stated several times that he is not considering England because the weather is too much like Germany (i.e. It sucks!) At least he’s honest 🙂
    Which reminds me of a somewhat related quote from a few years ago: Some coach (anybody remembers?) was trying to dissuade one of his players from going to England, and told him “In England, the women have hairy armpits”. One of the best quotes ever. It was all over Sky News for a few days. 🙂 I can’t remember who this guy was…

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