Winter Mercato

I will just say I think tonight's match will give a big indicator as to what Kaka's future is.

Imagine in the post match conference, Kaka came out and said "I once said I want to retire as a Milan player, and over this past week, alot had happen, but I am a man of my word. This game was my last game as a Milan player and also my last game as a footballer, I will no longer play club football anymore. For the love of the game, I am retiring as a Milan player."

If that happens, Kaka will forever be the best player in the world.

Originally Posted by Gabriel489

Were you referring to my post, b/c my pt is nomatter WHAT MILAN do with the money, my love for them will never be the same. SO regardless of they spend them on one player or five or none, I really don't care b/c they sold their soul to the devil

no, i was referring to Rick's large post

Originally Posted by Gabriel489

Imagine in the post match conference, Kaka came out and said "I once said I want to retire as a Milan player, and over this past week, alot had happen, but I am a man of my word. This game was my last game as a Milan player and also my last game as a footballer, I will no longer play club football anymore. For the love of the game, I am retiring as a Milan player."

If that happens, Kaka will forever be the best player in the world.

would be a fairytale ending but at 26 i cant see it if he was 33 maybe so

Originally Posted by Gabriel489

Rick, the reality is that Milan is one of the few, if not the only big team that runs itself with honor and pride.

That's nice to think, but the truth is that 23 years ago Silvio Berlusconi was the rich new owner who was accused of trying to buy championships when he bought a Milan club that was on the verge of bankruptcy ($40 million in debt), invested cash to steady the club and brought in the three great Dutch players, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit (the latter for a world record fee of $12 million, which doesn't seem like much now, but was a jawdropping fee for the time). So money has always been a part of the relationship between Milan and its owner.

The difference is that Silvio did not buy the club simply to stroke his own ego, but rather because he had a vision. Like it or not, Berlusconi's ownership of Milan laid the foundation for today's commercial, television-driven structure. He had seen what FIFA president Joao Havelange and Adidas had done with the World Cup and wanted to bring club football into the television and information age (the fact that his empire was built on the media made it a natural fit). He saw what was possible with the expansion of the cable and satellite television technology that was emerging at that time and he understood that Milan could be used as a tool to further his media empire and to help break the grip of state broadcaster RAI. The aggressive commercialization that Silvio brought to football with his purchase of the club led directly to the G-14, the Champions League and other things that have brought big money into the game.

So Milan is not an innocent club that has never been about money. The difference is that because Silvio saw Milan as an opportunity for profit rather than as a way of stroking his own ego, he hired coaches such as Sacchi and Capello and let them run the team, using Silvio's money to buy just the right players to go with homegrown talent such as Baresi, Costacurta and Maldini. He didn't just throw ridiculous money around for the sake of publicity and ego as Manchester City is now.

I think the difference between what happened to Milan when Berlusconi came in, and what is happening with Manchester City now, is that Milan was a big club when Berlusconi came in - just one in financial difficulties. Berlusconi didn't make the club great, the club was already great before he bought it, having won 10 league titles, four Italian cups, two European cups, two cup winners' cups and one Intercontinental cup.
Berlusconi saved Milan, but Milan was much, much, much bigger then than what Manchester City is now.

Well, Berlu and Milan might not be innocent....but they did not throw money out and steal other team's symbol. On top of that, Milan even though they were struggling at the time of Berlu, they still have solid players and they build the team slowly and you can see the direction of the club as you pointed out.

But Man City is not even a club in the same level of Milan, nor do they have a history of any other big clubs. For Milan to sell their symbol to a club way below their level is truly a slap in the face. If Real came in with this offer, I would still have problems of Kaka leaving but I will not be saying Berlu is selling Milan's soul to the devil for money.

Originally Posted by Gabriel489

Well, Berlu and Milan might not be innocent....but they did not throw money out and steal other team's symbol. On top of that, Milan even though they were struggling at the time of Berlu, they still have solid players and they build the team slowly and you can see the direction of the club as you pointed out.

Nesta and Oddo were symbols for Lazio ... sic
Shevchenko was a symbol for Dynamo Kiev ...
I do speak only about current players that are owned by Milan, they are examples ... these players were symbols in smaller clubs than us and we took them. We never tried to take a symbol from a club at our level and never at a club on a higher level (because there is none).

The difference is there, Man City is so far from being a great team, even a good team, than it looks scary that we could sell Kaka'. If it was Real Madrid that offered 120M, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't speak that much about that transfer.

Originally Posted by GeoTav

Nesta and Oddo were symbols for Lazio ... sic
Shevchenko was a symbol for Dynamo Kiev ...
I do speak only about current players that are owned by Milan, they are examples ... these players were symbols in smaller clubs than us and we took them. We never tried to take a symbol from a club at our level and never at a club on a higher level (because there is none).

The difference is there, Man City is so far from being a great team, even a good team, than it looks scary that we could sell Kaka'. If it was Real Madrid that offered 120M, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't speak that much about that transfer.

There are some differences though. Lazio had to sell Nesta because they were in huge financial problems, and something had to be done to save the club. We were actually in a bidding war with Inter over Cannavaro that summer, but lost out. Nobody thought Nesta was for sale until Lazio suddenly contacted Milan and said we could buy him.
As for Oddo, he was not the kind of symbol that Nesta was, so I don't really think he counts. When it comes to Sheva, Dynamo Kiev were going to sell him anyway (we were not the only club wanting to buy him), so in that respect, we just won the race.

But when it comes to going after the real symbols of other teams, like for example Totti, we've never done it. Galliani or Berlusconi may have said, "I'd like to see him play for Milan one day," but they have never aggressively pursued players like that.

I used the word STEAL. MILAN never steal any symbol from other clubs. Getting closer to game time, I think this game will show if Kaka stays or not.
To be honest, Kaka said he wants to stay, and Milan is only considering.
Nothing have really decided, I still think Kaka will be the next Captain of Milan. Maldini will hand his armband to him in the last game of the season, and Galli will come out and say, there was a time that I did consider selling Kaka, but the fans, the players and my heart prevented me to do so, and today I am glad I didn't....

Originally Posted by Gabriel489

I used the word STEAL. MILAN never steal any symbol from other clubs. Getting closer to game time, I think this game will show if Kaka stays or not.
To be honest, Kaka said he wants to stay, and Milan is only considering.
Nothing have really decided, I still think Kaka will be the next Captain of Milan. Maldini will hand his armband to him in the last game of the season, and Galli will come out and say, there was a time that I did consider selling Kaka, but the fans, the players and my heart prevented me to do so, and today I am glad I didn't....

In our hierarchy, the next captain is Ambro ...
After Ambro, the most logical would be Gattuso, it's what seemed weird when Kaka' said "there is a hierarchy but after Maldini and Ambrosini ...". Why ? Gattuso is in this club since more time, he's also a symbol, he already refused many offers too.

Well thats true, but I think thats the only way Kaka will retire in Milan.

Originally Posted by devoted_dm

I think the difference between what happened to Milan when Berlusconi came in, and what is happening with Manchester City now, is that Milan was a big club when Berlusconi came in - just one in financial difficulties. Berlusconi didn't make the club great, the club was already great before he bought it, having won 10 league titles, four Italian cups, two European cups, two cup winners' cups and one Intercontinental cup.
Berlusconi saved Milan, but Milan was much, much, much bigger then than what Manchester City is now.

Which is exactly what I said in my original post. Manchester City has always lived in the shadow of Manchester United. This has given them an inferiority complex. So now that they have money, they feel they need to prove themselves a "big club" by throwing around ridiculous amounts of money. But their reasons don't change the fact that they are further soiling a game that has already found itself wallowing in the mire of greed and corruption. It's something that all the actual "big clubs" (including Milan) have contributed to over the years. City is merely taking it to ridiculous new levels because they're desperate to join the old club.

Let's speak about something alse ...

Il manager del Liverpool, Rafa Benitez, allontana il difensore Daniel Agger dal Milan: "Ho parlato con il giocatore due giorni fa - ha raccontato il tecnico - e lui vuole rimanere. Non pensa assolutamente ai soldi e stava aspettando una nostra chiamata. Io posso garantire che il suo impegno per il Liverpool e' del 100%, vuole restare".

Aaaaaaaaaaah still someone saying that money doesn't count while earning millions each year !!

"I spoke to the player two days ago, and he wants to stay. He doesn't think at all to money and he was waiting our meeting. I can guarantee that his commitment is 100% for Liverpool, he wants to stay."

The thing is that Kaka is saying he wants to stay too, but everybody else is saying Kaka will be a Man City players. Interesting, don't you think