Manchester City's Outlandish Kaka Bid Will Only Undermine Its Financial Strength

Manchester City’s bid for Kaka has lit up this transfer window. But, says Alex Dimond, completing any such deal would only see the club create a monster—one capable of thwarting it in future transfer deals...

If nothing else, it must be a pretty exciting time to be a Manchester City fan. If you can ignore the club’s league position for a split second—difficult, admittedly, but not impossible—then it is hard not to believe that the club is destined to become a major power in world football, and sooner rather than later.

The club now has such vast wealth that it can bludgeon almost any club into submission in pursuit of players, if it so wishes. The football market is, almost literally, its toy.

This January transfer window has been hugely illuminating in that respect, giving as it has the chance for commentators, pundits, and fans alike to observe in action the business plan of the Abu Dhabi United Group.

So far, it has become evident that the club has a “two-tier” transfer policy in place. They only appear prepared to pay market-price for most players, but are willing to offer outlandish sums for the marquee players that they believe can drive the club forward.

Wayne Bridge’s transfer—not to mention the (so far) failed attempts to sign Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy et al—is the perhaps the best example of the first approach.

It is hard to argue with the business sense of this method, even if it makes securing signatures of the players far harder—as the selling clubs, the players, and their agents are all acutely aware that the club aren’t exactly working on limited funds (no wonder Bridge managed to gain himself wages in the region of £100,000 a week).

The proposed transfer of Kaka, on the other hand, is arguably the first real example from the club of their second approach to transfers. As a result, it has understandably been heavily scrutinised.

From a footballing perspective, the rumoured £100m bid makes sense. The Brazil and AC Milan ace is undoubtedly amongst the very best players in the world—if not the best—and would immediately elevate the quality of the Manchester City squad.

Critics may argue that City don’t really need another attacking player, but only a handful of clubs in the world have a creative spark of Kaka’s calibre in their side, and City are not yet one of them.

The 26-year-old is graceful and innovative on the ball, and rarely misplaces passes or over-complicates the art of attacking. He would immediately make City one of the most feared attacks in Europe.

From an economic perspective, however, the bid simply makes no long-term sense. Whatever Mark Hughes may argue in public, giving over £100m to AC Milan for one player would be foolish.

With such a huge amount of money involved, the actual player would become irrelevant to the consequences of such a deal.

It would amount to nothing more than a redistribution of wealth, and would allow AC Milan—especially in this economic climate, where the pound is ever-depreciating against the Euro—to rival them in any future transfer wrangles.

Think about it—who will AC Milan be able to purchase with £100m?

Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Adebayor have already been linked with a move to the San Siro, and the club would surely have a huge chunk of change left even if they completed both deals (and who then might Chelsea and Arsenal pursue with the money they receive?).

Manchester City will always have a financial advantage over any club in the world, but handing AC Milan such a large amount of capital will allow the Italian club to exploit their own advantages.

The Rossonieri are undoubtedly a more prestigious club than Manchester City, and a greater attraction for players who want to win the games’ biggest prizes. Persuading players to join the club will never be hard, especially if they earn Champions League football this season.

Equally, however, the club has a far superior scouting system, one that Manchester City will not be able to hope to match for at least five years. But with £100m, Milan will suddenly be able to fully exploit theirs NOW.

Take, for example, Milan striker Alexandre Pato. Milan bought the youngster from Internacional in 2007, for a sum of £15.7m. The 19-year-old is already one of the world’s best strikers, and looks like only injury can prevent him from becoming the natural heir to a list of Brazilian greats like Tostao, Romario, and Ronaldo.

With the proceeds of any Kaka transfer deal, they could therefore feasibly go out and buy six players of similar ability to Pato—and still have change left over for Shay Given.

Hell, the club only spent around £6m on Kaka in the first place—so they could theoretically buy a whole starting lineup of “new” Kakas from the proceeds of one sale this January.

Considering their links in Brazil and throughout South America—not to mention the less stringent work-permit rules in Italy as compared to England—the Italian side could buy a whole fleet of future world superstars before City had even heard of them.

And, perhaps most worryingly of all, what would be to stop Milan from going head-to-head with City in a future transfer battle? If a player had to choose between Manchester City and AC Milan, would footballing reasons not ensure that they joined the latter?

And if money turned out to be the primary motivator in their decision, leading them to opt for City—would that character even be one worth signing?

Perhaps, then, Manchester City should consider reversing their “two-tier” transfer system. Why not pay the extra few million to acquire those regular players that will flesh out the squad?

Both parties involved would surely be satisfied with the outcome, and it would not unduly affect future plans.

But for the elite players, the club might be well advised to negotiate more stringently, in a genuine attempt to reach a realistic market-price for the players they want. That way the might manage to sign their targets—without giving the selling club the armoury to go out and sting them in future transfer dealings.

The fact that Kaka and AC Milan are even contemplating agreeing a deal with Manchester City indicates the huge power of money in world football.

But money does not guarantee success, and if Milan do sell Kaka and then go out and buy four new players of potentially equal ability, then they will be the only winners from Kaka’s transfer.

ADUG are still in the honeymoon period of football club ownership. Signing Kaka would certainly be a great present for the club and its fans—but would be the biblical equivalent of building a house on the foundation of sand.