Round of 16 Curse

"AC Milan wanted to sell Kaka, and Man City was the buyer, but the transfer ultimately fell through because Kaka told me that he would either stay in Milan or go to Real Madrid!"

At the beginning of February, an exclusive interview with Kaka's father and agent, Bosco, published in Gazzetta dello Sport brought the inside story of the most high-profile winter transfer, which had drawn the attention of fans around the world, back into the public eye.

It was no secret that Kaka wanted to go to Real Madrid. But just before his transfer to Man City was essentially finalized, he suddenly called a halt and rejected Man City. What exactly had happened became the focus of everyone's attention.

Bosco's words undoubtedly pointed everyone toward a new possibility: the third party between Kaka and Man City was Real Madrid!

The problem was that while Kaka was negotiating with Man City, Real Madrid president Calderon was facing a crisis of confidence and subsequently stepped down. How could he still have had time to arrange Kaka's transfer?

Gazzetta dello Sport therefore made another guess: Florentino, who had remained hidden behind the scenes all along.

From the moment Calderon stepped down, everyone began speculating that Florentino intended to return to Real Madrid. They even listed an astonishing blueprint of superstars, claiming that the former captain of the Galácticos would spend heavily to build Version 2.0 of the Galácticos.

Now that Kaka had rejected Man City and clearly expressed his willingness to join Real Madrid, this undoubtedly revealed an obvious signal.

Gazzetta dello Sport concluded that Kaka had rejected Man City precisely because Florentino had made him a promise.

"He wasn't willing to transfer to Man City just for the money!"

Spanish media soon broke the news that Real Madrid's presidential election would