Kaka: His past, present and future

Once upon a time a tall whitish player that came by the name of Ricardo Izecson Dos Santos Leite made his debut on Brazil's national squad, who were facing Costa Rica in the round group of the 2002 World Cup. He was called to be the next Brazilian jewel to reign across the football universe. And so he did.

Better known by his nickname "Kaka", he played for Sao Paulo from 2001, until he was signed by AC Milan in the summer of 2003. Creation midfielder Rui Costa was in his final years and the rossoneri were looking for someone to fill in the position. While they may have had hints, I personally doubt they how sure they were that this new kid was going to take over Rui Costa's role as quick as he did. The most amazing part of it, was that Kaka's transfer only cost 8 million Euros. The payoff was immediate: Milan one the scudetto and the UEFA Supercup.

The following season, AC Milan cruised to reach the UEFA Champions League Finals facing Liverpool, and went on to build a sold 3-0 lead in the first half. In one of those unexplained circumstances, the British club came back to even the score at 3 goals and eventually won the title in penalties. However Kaka was still regarded as the best midfielder of the tournament. In 2005-06, Milan would fall in the semifinals against the inspired talent of another Brazilian jewel, Ronaldinho Gaucho, who would go on and win the tournament.

Glory came for Kaka in the 2006-07 season, when AC Milan won the Champions League title, backed up by Kaka's ten goals scored during the competition. His performance against Manchester United was definite in sending the message that AC Milan was the best team of that year.

Then came the fall...

After winning the Champions League and Ballon d'or -a perfect touch to culminate a perfect season-, much speculation grew around Kaka moving away from Milan. Particularly Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid were the clubs involved in bidding on him. Loyal to his fans, Kaka decided to stay in Italy and dismiss any rumours of transfers, but by the end of the 2008-09 season, pressure was too much and Silvio Berlusconi agreed on selling Kaka to Real Madrid on an $96 million transfer, claiming economic health of the club. Weeks later, Real Madrid bought Cristiano Ronaldo for $120 million, establishing what in paper seemed to be the most fearful midfield in football. Pity is, as today we have yet to fear it.

Ever since Kaka set foot in Real Madrid, fans have claimed -rightfully in my opinion- Kaka has not performed at the skill level the world had seen displayed by him in Milan. Recurring injuries and constant line-up changes are the initial causes of his mixed results. In my opinion, he hasn't had the need, hunger, desire or ambition he had in Milan, where he was the focus of the team. Alas, not the star of the team, but the focus of the team, meaning the spark plug, the engine, the termometer, the barometer, the battery, everything. Every offensive ball played by Milan, passed through the boots of Kaka. Also, the type of game played by Milan suited Kaka's perfectly: an aggressive, bottom-liner, to the point, football, with no flashy things or flamboyant strategies. Get the job done playing openly and convincingly. Give Kaka space to play and play he will.

In Madrid, Kaka became one more piece in a set of pieces, each one claiming their star on the squad and each one needing a huge amount of space on the pitch. Kaka NEEDS space to play; if you take space away from him, you are taking away his game. The so-called godlike conection between Cristiano and Kaka has never happened, and Kaka has never been able to syncronize the same way he did with Clarence Seedorf in Milan. Then you have his salary: I would really like to dig into Real Madrid financial numers and see how profitable Kaka's transfer has been. Today after another below average season in Madrid, his future is unknown; a sell to another club is likely will happen, and since he has been out of form, injured and has barely played consistently in the past years, it is also likely that we may never see him play like he did in the Milan years.


I've always wondered how club president and coaches think, and Kaka's transfer to Madrid is one of the examples that end up being pondered by my mind. He didn't need to go to Madrid, at all and the club would have still been strong without him being brought. I wonder what were the Madrid directive thinking when they came across the idea of signing Kaka. I wonder what they think today of it.

Either way, I think that the best we can do is to say that we lived in the generation of people that got the honor to watch Kaka play at his best. I close today's entry with my personal favorite Kaka goal:

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