The latest, biggest name to be attached to MLS is Brazlian star Kaka. The LA Galaxy have made no effort to hide their interest in the 30-year-old Real Madrid midfielder. That interest was given some encouragement when Kaka told ESPN that he was willing to join MLS "if I have agreement with the club."
Kaka expresses willingness to play for Galaxy, but how willing is he really?
Just because Kaka says he’s willing to play for the LA Galaxy “if an agreement is reached” does not mean he’s ready to sign on the dotted line.
Jasper Juinen
That quote prompted MLSsoccer.com’s Simon Borg to proclaim that this is an admission of real interest from Kaka. While that may be true to some degree, I’d hold off on buying a new No. 8 Galaxy jersey.
To put this in dating terms, this is not so much as an acceptance of a wedding proposal as much as it is the equivalent of someone saying “if we’re both still single in 20 years, let’s get married.” Simply put, there’s very little implied intention behind Kaka’s statements.
There are also reasons to suspect that Kaka might not want to play in MLS regardless of what offer he receives. The biggest mark against MLS is that it’s unlikely to be seen as a league that is properly preparing a player of Kaka’s quality for the 2014 World Cup. Kaka clearly intends to play for Brazil on their home soil and signing with the Galaxy does not help his case. As improved as MLS may be, no international team with a realistic goal of winning the World Cup has ever selected a player from MLS. That’s not to say it’s impossible, but the chances of it happening seem slim.
Even if we take Kaka at his word, though, who's to say how much money it would take? There was one rumor circulating that he was only willing to play for the New York Red Bulls if he was being paid $10 million a year and allowed to come and go from the team as he pleased. That's a rather ridiculous amount of money for a player who isn't even fully committing.
While that may be similar to what the league was paying David Beckham back in 2007, I'd like to think the league has progressed to the point that it doesn't have to pay someone tens of millions just so he can appear in some ads.
I’d love for this rumor about Kaka to be true. Unfortunately, I just can’t help from being skeptical about it.
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