THE FIFTH CYCLE
6/4/2009 12:40:00 PM
Adriano Galliani today. On Kaka: "The agreement has not been reached, but we cannot lose €70m every year." On the future: "Milan is ready to start again. Many times they thought we were finished..."
MILAN - These are the declarations today of Adriano Galliani, general manager of Milan, to the Gazzetta dello Sport.
On the Kaka negotiation: "Ricky did not want to go to Manchester City, but he would go to Madrid. There is no Chelsea solution: Kaka either goes to Real or remains at Milan. This is his will and we are doing all in full agreement. On Sunday Florentino Perez invited me to celebrate his appointment. We dined and then, I don't deny it, we spoke about Kaka. The negotiation exists, but the agreement has not been reached. The heart? We are talking about transfers, we all have a heart. However, the numbers have become such that even a great heart must face them and draw a balance. Kaka always behaved well with us, he never asked for improvements in his contract or extensions. He was here for six years, winning all there is to win. We cannot allow ourselves to lose €70m every year. The motivations of Kaka's departure would be economical: Real makes a profit almost double of Milan, they have their own stadium, does not divide the gate receipts and the TV rights with other teams, is helped by a fiscal regime which allows to offer the players higher wages, spending the same gross amount: two million become a million in the pockets of a player playing in Italy, one and a half in Spain. I don't want to be borng, but the root of the problem is economical: Italy lost its competitiveness and Serie A must fight so that it's not surpassed by other leagues, after losing ground to Spain and England."
On Milan's future, Adriano Galliani spoke again: "I want to reassure the fans: we are not demobilizing and neither downsizing. It's not that we sell Kaka and we don't sign anyone. If Kaka will leave, another great attacker will arrive. It will be a great attacker. I can add that it's a forward: after all we play with the 4-3-1-2 and if Kaka leaves we will need someone who plays in his position. It will be a great attacker, just like Thiago Silva is a great defender who substitutes our immense Paolo Maldini. Everything that is done at Milan is pondered. I hope that the fans understand the situation. Berlusconi's Milan went through four great cycles:: that of Sacchi, that of Capello, the Tabarez-Zaccheroni-Terim reign and Ancelotti's period. We start again with a fifth cycle. There is a negotiation for Kaka, but the other big players, Pato, Pirlo and Seedorf, are not for sale. Berlusconi does not want to sell, but there has never been an offer for the majority of shares. There was an interest in the minority quotes from the Middle East and United States, but a negotiation has never been opened. Milan is ready to start again. Many times they thought we were finished and we started winning again."