Kaka to Citeh = Mad Money !

Kaka's move to Citeh, means 'Crazy' money involved.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the billionaire member of Abu Dhabi's royal family who now owns Manchester City, a club of middling distinction and less achievement in the English Premier League, is reportedly ready to spend 100 million euros ($132 million) to buy Brazilian superstar Kaka away from AC Milan.

AC Milan have given Kaka, under contract until 2013, formal permission to speak to Manchester City's representatives now visiting Milan. Manchester City assistant manager Mark Bowen told the BBC that the midfield playmaker is "very close" to making the move.

Well, maybe, but should the move come off, it would not just break the sport's trade record, it would shatter it. The biggest deal to date is the 47 million pounds ($68 million) that Real Madrid paid to poach Zinedine Zidane--infamous for his World Cup final head-butt--away from Juventus. It would also break the record for an English club--the 32.5 million pounds that Manchester City paid Real Madrid for another Brazilian star, Robinho, which was a deal struck the day the sheikh bought the club.

Robinho gets a salary of 160,000 pounds a week. On top of Kaka's transfer fee, City is reported to be offering a salary of 500,000 pounds a week--26 million pounds a year. That will make the 26-year-old the highest paid player in the Premiership by a factor of two.

This is nuts. Kaka's transfer fee would be greater than the 95 million pounds we valued Manchester City at last year before the sheikh bought it.

Soccer is in no shape to withstand the sort of hyperinflation in player salaries and transfer fees that Kaka's proposed move represents. Spending in the January transfer window by English teams has soared in recent years from 33 million pounds in 2003 to 175 million pounds last year. But aside from the Kaka move, it looks set to fall this year against the background of the global economic slowdown and sterling's fall against the euro, which makes players coming from clubs in the EU 20% more expensive.