Why the Kaka Saga Is Good for Soccer

The highlight of the January sales was, naturally, the Kaka deal. Or rather, what could have been the Kaka deal. For a period of two weeks, the British tabloids splashed outlandish numbers across the back pages as Manchester City made a valiant attempt to sign what may be the best player in the world at the moment from A.C. Milan.

The final bid was in the range of a world record $150 million. Columnists and fans alike were up in arms, howling that the already outrageous transfer market had reached new heights. $150 million on a midfielder while the world’s financial system is imploding? Really? They heralded the arrival of a new age of soccer haves and have-nots. Soccer seemed to have entirely lost its tenuous grip on reality.

Though Milan accepted the bid, Kaka seemed unable to agree personal terms with City — maybe they figured they were out of money. And so he will still be wearing the red and black stripes through the end of the season.

But now that the whole affair is over and done with, I would like to thank Manchester City. The Kaka bid was absolutely inspired and, I believe, was the best thing world soccer could have asked for right now.

It was football’s cup of coffee.

Perhaps now, after staring into the abyss of $150 million transfer fees, clubs will realize that the market needs to cool off. When huge money transfers now appear on the horizon, there will be an example for teams to point to, a symbol of how close football came to an age of terrifying expenditure and inflated value for even the best players.

Of course, this interpretation requires placing a fair amount of trust in club owners, which may be a recipe for disaster. Still, enough of them are shrewd enough businessman — at least those that aren’t employed by Manchester City — to realize that suddenly changing the norms can cause unbelievable instability.

And, though it may sound trite, it was refreshing to see a player show some loyalty to the club that made him. In a statement on Milan’s Web site, club president Silvio Berlusconi made it sound even more trite. Bear in mind that this is coming from one of Italy’s richest men.

“He is staying with us,” Berlusconi said. “There are things which are more important than money: we are happy. We offered the player the chance to consider the offer and make himself a fortune, but he has higher values.”

We can only hope that clubs will learn from this.