How the Kaká deal fell apart

As the Football world quickly moves away from the events leading up to Kaká staying at AC Milan and not moving as most believed to Manchester City, a number of interesting twists in the tale have come to light.

From the start of this deal to its very end it involved not only the respective clubs and player but the powerful forces of Adidas, Nike as well as Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN TV network stated intent of purchasing the rights to English Premier League matches live. From the broadcasting vantage in many ways the potential move of Kaká to Manchester City represented a near perfect situation for Disney's expansion into Football and the Citizens global branding with one of the sports best examples on and off the pitch. A great athlete not only none for his on-pitch splendor but of irrefutable character and quite possibly the perfect figurehead for the sports emergence within the American market. However not to be outdone, the targeting of Kaká, one of the most recognizable names in Adidas and subsequently the German based company would fight off any assault with whatever they could muster.

While in the shadows of this entire deal with City headed up by chief ex-Nike man Gary Cook as chief exectutive it is not by chance that their attempts were directed towards one of the rivals most well-known athletes. Along with his Nike's £285 acquisition of Umbro and sponsorship involvement of England's national academy, this was a point in the massive financial battle of worlds Football market as City moves slowly under the Nike umbrella.

However what remains to be seen is the "how and why" Man City executives were "played" in this situation. While in the past the executive team of the Citizens have made a series of negotiation blunders, this time they were letter perfect and came with a brilliant plan. Knowing full well that Mr. Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite aka Kaká is a man of the highest moral character and it would take more than just a sizable contract to lure him to Manchester, they were ready to table a proposition that would fulfill some of his personal goals and build a charitable foundation of extraordinary proportion. If true be told, City's management which has stumbled on many occasions outdid itself in a not only a brilliant tactical move but one to bring it to the forefront of sports management and leadership. However these plans went stray and after acknowledging Kaká represents the values as the ambassador of the sport, Mr. Cook noted that they were never able to meet with him and all "his representatives wanted to talk about how much we were going to pay him."

After vetting AC Milan's interest in negotiating a deal and being assured "in which Milan made it quite clear Kaka was for sale", Mr Cook told the BBC, he along with a board member from Abu Dhabi and one other senior executive to finalize the deal. However the intent of Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and owner of AC Milan changed as per Mr. Cook:

“We were confined to a room, with no food or drink, and we asked some questions of the football club and more importantly we asked some questions of the representatives of the player and they simple could not answer the questions."

So what happened to the deal, possibly the greatest hint is the breadcrumbs left by Kaká's teammate David Beckham, less than forty-eight hours of the deal collapsing when informed Spanish media source "AS" that the he is likely to move to Real Madrid, where he can continue wearing the three stripes this summer.

CSKA Moscow to make it a perfect run

Valery Gazzaev’s CSKA Moscow face Nancy-Lorraine in the UEFA Cup later today with his forces already guaranteed a spot in the next round as they have been perfect in three matches. Koni is showing little signs of weakening and are possibly the most likely of present clubs who could lift the hardware in May. With the domestic season complete, this the clubs final match before holidays, the club is fully-fit although I expect Anton Grigoryev and Deividas Šemberas to sit-out as they are one card away from suspension. Whilst this match means “nothing” to CSKA, they will not be satisfied with a draw as they head to their holidays. Lead by a Yuri Zhirkov and fellow Russian internationals Alan Dzagoev, Vasili Berezutskiy, Sergei Ignashevich, Aleksei Berezutskiy as well as Brazilian goal scorer Vágner Love, who may be in his final match for the club, I expect them to make an emphatic statement and defeat Nancy.

I will report on the match as it concludes.

PSG and Nancy draw at one

PSG earned an important 1-1 draw against Nancy in a extremely difficult situation. With Claude Makélélé, Ludovic Giuly and Jérôme Rothen sidelined with injuries, PSG was faced with a daunting task against Nancy requiring significant changes to the lineup and tactics. In coming through with this hard earned draw, Paul Le Guen hopefully has silenced critics who contend the club is slipping off in the same mold as last year.















The match started fast for PSG as Guillaume Hoarau headed in a Stéphane Sessegnon volley from six meters out to give them the lead. The striking trio of Fabrice Pancrate,Guillaume Hoarau and Péguy Luyindula continued to look to double the score and came close at the twelfth and fifteenth minute but slowly the impact of the PSG attack waned and the match was played box to box. Eleven minutes before the break PSG's weakness to aerial attack and set-plays was exposed as Benjamin Gavanon's free kick was thunderously headed to the back of the net by Uruguayan Damián Macaluso and the match was level at one. Through the balance of half most of the play was within the PSG half although serious scoring opportunities were minimal. After the break, PSG seemed to find its bearing again with the striking trio nearly finding the net at the sixtieth minute. With four minutes left Mateja Kežman tries to chip over an out-of-position Gennaro Bracigliano but it falls astray and the match ends as a 1-1 draw.

PSG returns to action on the 18th against Lorient after the international break.














PSG
Mickael Landreau,Zoumana Camara,Sylvain Armand,Ceará,Gregory Bourillon,Stéphane Sessegnon,Jérémy Clément,Younousse Sankharé (Clément Chantôme 74'),Fabrice Pancrate (Mateja Kežman 66'),Guillaume Hoarau,Péguy Luyindula

Nancy
Gennaro Bracigliano,Andre Luiz,Mickaël Chrétien,Damian Macaluso,Abdeslam Ouaddou,Benjamin Gavanon,Jonathan Brison,Alfred Ndiaye (Landry N`Guemo 63'),Youssouf Hadji (Pascal Berenguer 81'),Marc-Antoine Fortune,Moncaf Zerka (Issiar Dia 63')

PSG v Nancy match preview

PSG's visit to AS Nancy is a peculiar affair to say the least. Much to my surprise Nancy languishes in the bottom-half of the table whilst most pre-season expectations had them repeating their European efforts of last season. Their long victory victory came in the fourth week of the campaign against newly promoted Le Havre AC and they have shown little of the passion that has been typical of their performances in the past.

Of course all is not perfect for PSG as well and the pre-season clatter of triumphant parades down the Champs-Élysées have long since stopped as the club is clearly short on man-power. Paul Le Guen has made some superb additions but their are significant issues in both defending and attacking that limit the club. Equally bench depth has been an issue and I can't help but wonder why tactical changes haven't been made to utilize Mateja Kežman's abilities better. PSG enters the match after advancing to the next stage of the UEFA Cup, squeezing out Kayserispor in the aggregate but also riding a two-match losing streak in Ligue 1. Possibly most telling is the lack of firepower and finishing instincts as they have yet to score twice in a league match and teams are learning very quickly on how to defend against them. They will be without Ludovic Giuly for the next three weeks with a thigh injury and Stéphane Sessegnon will need to show some of this his season flourish to push PSG forward in the attack. Fabrice Pancrate is equally questionable up-front and Paul Le Guen needs to look more towards twenty year-old Yannick Boli in his striking mix as he continues to shine in practice situations. Possibly the worst piece of news for PSG supporters is Claude Makélélé is not expected to play given a virus.