Wednesday 14 January 2009

...In a rich mans world


Kaka is apparently going to be offered £500,000 per week to play for Manchester City. And there we have it. The modern game summed up in one simple sentence. A world class player, a ludicrous amount of money and a minor football club.

No disrespect to City, but young lads growing up in Brazil don’t dream about playing for them. But it doesn’t matter, as seen by Chelsea’s success. Signing Kaka will no doubt result in several other leading world-class players make the trip over to the Premiership to Eastlands to earn millions whilst a roller-caster adventure begins for their fans. It doesn’t matter if Kaka or anyone else for that matter hasn’t heard of them. It’s the Premiership and the owners have billions at their disposal. They might need to upgrade their manager from Hughes to someone with more clout globally to guarantee a few of those signatures (again, see Chelsea’s success) and it’s win-win if the trophy cabinet gets some shiny new inclusions.

Every kid growing up at the minute that aspires to play professional football must be laughing their heads off. It’s no longer about playing for the club you love. As long as you are good and especially if you are outstanding, someone will pay an abundance in wealth to make sure you play for them. So why stay loyal?

Then again, bite their hand off perhaps? Players of Kaka's ilk surely don't need the money City have to offer. Or maybe there isn't a sum of money in the world too big for a pro footballer. At a guess, Kaka won't move away from Milan because he's already rich, loves his club and want's to win more medals. Others, like Robinho's ilk, won't be too difficult to sign-up.

Most dream of playing for the real big clubs, enriched with tradition and vibrant history. Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Manchester United etc. How will Man City or Chelsea be remembered? I guess big clubs will always be big and kids will always aspire to play for them. So we don’t have to worry about youngsters telling thief fathers:

“Dad, when I grow up, I want to play for Manchester City cause they’re really really rich”.

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