WANTED MAN: Kaka is on the Stamford Bridge hit list
Monday July 7,2008
LUIZ FELIPE SCOLARI arrives at Stamford Bridge today,
eager to convince Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to bid more for
Kaka than Real Madrid would pay for Cristiano Ronaldo.
Adriano Galliani, AC
Milan vice-president, said yesterday they have received a “huge”
bid for Brazil forward Kaka.
But so far AC Milan have
said “no way” to selling him, although a breathtaking offer may
well tempt them. Abramovich’s opening offer was £50m, but I believe
Chelsea are ready to value Kaka as highly as Real Madrid are
willing to fork out for Ronaldo and offer 100m euros (about
£75million).
Abramovich was after
Kaka when Avram Grant was boss, which the Daily Express revealed
last October. But Kaka was not attracted to playing under Grant,
although Scolari’s arrival could change his mind.
Scolari has endorsed
Grant’s view that only the Brazilian magic of Kaka and maybe Real
Madrid’s Robinho can alter Chelsea’s style of play. The arrival of
Deco is the first step in producing the blend money-no-object owner
Abramovich craves.
The first
Brazilian coach in English football has a great chance of tempting
Kaka to the Bridge. The belief Kaka might now rethink his position
of wanting to stay at Milan, who have not qualified for the
Champions League, has encouraged Chelsea that a breathtaking new
offer for him would open up the route to negotiation.
Chelsea could even offer
up striker Didier Drogba as a make-weight in any deal, or possibly
other players in part exchange. Robinho is more reasonably priced
and could be snapped up for a bargain £20m. But Real Madrid are
reluctant to sell unless they can buy Ronaldo from Manchester
United, which is looking unlikely.
Galliani also claims
that Ronaldinho has rejected a lucrative offer from Manchester
City, despite the Premier League club offering twice the money of
the Italians. Milan and City have vigorously pursued the signature
of Ronaldinho this summer after Barcelona announced they were open
to offers for the Brazil playmaker. But the Rossoneri are short of
cash and have admitted they cannot compete financially with City’s
offer.
However, the player
himself has said publicly that he would prefer a move to more
mighty sides like Milan or Chelsea. And Galliani claims he has made
a good decision by turning down the offer of a much higher wage,
reportedly up to 250,000 euros (£197,963) a week, from City to
focus on a move to Milan.
“Ronaldinho has rejected
the offer of Manchester City despite them offering twice as much as
we can,” Galliani told Italian newspaper La Stampa.
Galliani added that the
main stumbling block in any deal to bring him to Milan would be
Ronaldinho’s wages and not the transfer fee. “He is not in the
plans of (Barcelona coach Pep) Guardiola, so he has a more
favourable price,” Galliani said.
“But the problem is the
wages. For us to be able to afford him, the transfer fee would have
to be close to nothing.” Galliani raised the possibility of signing
Ronaldinho, 28, on loan to make the deal more affordable but said:
“It depends on Barcelona.”
