City would be getting the best

According to Brazilian journalist Antonio Maria Filho, Kaka is quite simply the finest player on planet earth

WE HAVE a saying in Brazil: “Those who have money, pay. And those who don’t, applaud.” If Manchester City have the money to hire the best player in the world, congratulations to them. They will not regret the investment. It matters little if Kaka came in behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres at Fifa’s Gala contest this month. This does not mean he is a worse player. It is one thing to have a great season; it is quite another to be a genuine superstar.

Kaka is the best player on planet earth and wasn’t credited as such in Zurich only because 2008 held some disappointments for him – physical problems that put him on the surgeon’s table, preventing him from showing his art at Milan or even in the Brazil side. Had it not been for these problems, he had everything to have finished in first place like the year before.

A “craque” or “superstar player” is the player who can execute a high-level move with a great level of difficulty but do it with such naturalness that supporters think it looks easy. Kaka is one of these stars. What’s more, he goes on to the pitch without the intention of showing off unnecessarily. Football is serious for Milan and Brazil’s idol, not a presentation of the Cirque du Soleil.

Kaka has spirit and knows that football is war and seeks his goals tirelessly, only dribbling when required. The moment he gets away from his markers and gets the goalkeeper in his sights he tries to score. More importantly, he takes his profession seriously. He’s not one for nightlife, he takes care of himself like few others and he keeps himself at the ideal weight.

I can’t compare players in different positions but I consider Kaka more professional than Cristiano Ronaldo, Fifa’s chosen one; I consider him more experienced than Messi, a decisive player of rare ability; and I believe his talent is more refined than that of the excellent Torres. This is not “Brazilianism” on my part.

All of the other three players are marvellous also.

I have been following Kaka’s career for a long time. I was there when he first arrived in the national side. His debut was in 2002 in [the Brazilian city] Goiania, during a friendly against Bolivia. He was only 19 then and Brazil won the game 6-0. Kaka came on in the second half.

When he was even younger he started to show his art at Sao Paulo, the team that raised him. So much so that even before he was in the national side he was already one of the players who the fans most chased after in the hotel lobby. When the lift door opened and he came out, chaos would break out. You would hear the hysterical screams of the girls, who thought Kaka was as handsome as a movie star and would tell everyone they were in love with him.

Since Kaka made no secret of his religion, evangelical pastors and missionaries would also seek him out to talk about the Bible. Kaka was well brought up and, unlike many footballers, had everything as a child; comfort, education and a good family. His father, an engineer, travels with him whenever he can on his journeys.

Kaka does not like to be asked about his idols. When he first came into the Brazilian team he made this clear and his answer made sense. Speaking about Zico and Rai, players he admired, he said: “More than idols, Zico and Rai are examples. I’m just sorry I never saw Pele play.”

Back then, as he first came into the national side, Kaka was already dreaming of playing in the World Cup. “The greatness of a World Cup says it all. The world stops to watch it. Of course I dream about it. I can’t be satisfied with making it into the Brazilian side. I still have a long road ahead of me,” he said, before he had even been picked for the World Cup, recalling that he had started playing football aged 12.

From that moment on, he said, he had never imagined himself in any other profession. “If it doesn’t work out as a player, I would certainly go into physical education.”

Not everything in Kaka’s life was easy. He underwent a major drama in 2000 when he was 17. While on holiday with his family in Caldas Novas, a city in the state of Goias known for its natural spas, he fell in a swimming pool and fractured a vertebra.

He suffered greatly from fears about a difficult recovery but he never gave up. He was back in action within two months, going back to training at Sao Paulo and becoming one of the great stars of world football.

Kaka is obstinate. Nothing can make him give up on something he has planned. Without doubt it is this virtue that has helped him succeed in his profession and made him a star with a €120 million price tag.

• Antonio Maria Filho is a Brazilian sports writer and writes the weekly Panorama Esportivo column in O Globonewspaper. Translation by Tom Phillips.  ( Guardian Service)

MONEY TALKS: THE MANAGERS' VIEW

'Kaka is one of the best in the world on the pitch and off it. He is a fantastic player and they have money to spend. How much is it normal to pay? I don't know. I would not be surprised if he went to Manchester City. This is football. He is a professional player, but maybe they offer to him not only money but an idea for the future. I know Kaka very well, money is not his problem.'

- Luiz Felipe Scolari

'Suddenly, when you are trying to make up a bit of ground and get there, now there is a player (Manchester City) in the market that seems to make Chelsea look like small fry. Just when you thought you were doing all right, suddenly it's a different ball game. I don't know the whole fallout. Milan, I'm sure, about 10 days ago would not have entertained any bid for Kaka. And now, suddenly, they're thinking about something that's extraordinary.'

- Martin O'Neill

'You're in the realms of lottery money. If a club has £100 million to spend and think that buying one player is the best way to improve their team, then that's their business. Richer clubs have always determined the market prices. At the moment £30 million is the figure for a very good player to move from one Premiership club to another. In a few years that figure might be £100 million.'

- Roy Hodgson

'It shows the lack of talent at the top level if a player is valued at £100 million. But if City succeed in buying Kaka, it will be the start of something that must finish with some level of success very quickly. It can only qualify as success if they do very well. If not, then it will be a disaster.'

- Sam Allardyce

'It's just Sod's Law how the fixtures have come up. It could be Kaka's first game against us. We might play Manchester City and they will have the most expensive team in the world.'

- Joe Kinnear