Transfer madness

With the transfer window currently wide open there is still only one deal that anyone is talking about and that is the proposed £100 million (BD55.23 million) move of Kaka to cash-rich Manchester City.

There have been so many reported breakdowns of the offer that it is no surprise the average onlooker is confused and a little sad at the attention it is bringing.

Mark Hughes has admitted the deal is complicated, well it would be with such sums involved, but, sadly for City, it is probably stacked considerably in the player's favour.

Sitting just above the relegation spots despite Saturday's win against Wigan does not help their bargaining position either and this is a long way from the Champions League places that the Brazilian expects.

Relegation and failure to qualify for Europe next season will be mandatory in the contract and there will probably be a host of other personal terms to add to them which will in effect hold the club to ransom.

The main problem with this deal is that Kaka does not want to leave Milan but his club, agent and father have had their heads turned - and who would not - by the sheer amount of money on the table.

In all likelihood, Kaka himself is also amazed by this turn of events. A deeply religious man who gives lots of his earnings to charity will be having his resolve seriously tested.

If the current value of a top quality player is in the region of £30 million, such as Torres, then Milan must be sitting there thinking I could buy three such players for the price of Kaka which makes this situation attractive. The only down side is if the transfer itself pushes up prices elsewhere and suddenly Milan would get less for their money. If you cannot replace a player of similar quality with the money earned, then why bother?

It is probably Messi and Ronaldo who could compete with Kaka in terms of quality and they both, and particularly the United player, will be quite worried about this situation. Who else would be able to pay such sums for a player than City in world football which limits the options available to them?

Kaka at City does not sound that far fetched, but Kaka at City earning half a million pounds a week sounds fanciful - it is not as if he is a Pele, Maradona or a Zidane - good he most definitely is, but that good? No, and that is why it all seems a bit strange. If he was that much better than everyone-else it would make more sense, but many would consider Messi a better acquisition.

Most managers and, in particular, Arsene Wenger have openly suggested it is not an ideal situation for football and whilst they will not be worried about the world order in the short term as City are far from being competitive, they will be concerned for the long term positions in the pecking order of their own teams. This will be even truer should another player with equal spending power enter the market.

Will it happen? At the moment it is 50/50 probably but the way Kaka hugged and kissed his fellow players at Milan on Saturday night after victory against Roma means it might be swinging the outcome to a move to England.

He was also the only one not to swap shirts and he also took the match ball off a colleague. It is easy to read too much into things when you are looking for them but this did seem a little over emotional for the average Serie A finale to a game.

Once the takeover at City took place we were always going to reach a position whereby the natural order of things was challenged and here we are. If it was not Kaka then it would be someone-else, so, in some ways, it is better to get it over with and see where the football world ends up.

My preference is for a small interim period of ridiculous demands by players and agents to make hay while they can and, of course, the average fan and supporter will probably suffer by losing their team's star players, but, in reality, where is the change there?

Football players and clubs are getting highly-skilled at taking advantage of fan loyalty and maybe the Kaka affair will at last be a step too far and will be a catalyst for change - but I would not hold your breath waiting for it.