PSG - can't buy me love

Beckham, Pato and now Tevez? I guess the petro-euros in Paris are not as valuable as once believed! After Beckham said no thanks to PSG and re-upped with the Galaxy and then we say PSG do a dance with AC Milan only to see Pato say no to the French capital, now we are watching at the Apache might follow suit. What is going on! A few weeks ago I was waiting to see a whole host of big names being unveiled at the Parc. Well we did sign 30 year old Barcelona bench warmer - Maxwell. PSG is linked with another aging defender in Maicon.

Hmm should I go to Paris....

So what is really going on in Paris. Ancelotti has made it clear he wants a big name striker/offensive option brought in before the end of the month (did I mention that Kaka has also been on this merry go round) but it looks as if that might be a pipe dream. I understand what Ancelotti is looking to do, but once again I ask - what is the plan?

Beckham, thankfully he stayed in LA, but what would have been his role? Wide player? Deep lying midfielder? Late game substitute? That smells like a PR move and not a football move.

Pato? Big name. How would he be used? Top of the Ancelotti Christmas Tree? (4-3-2-1) Or would he some how be a tandem striker with Gameiro and/or Hourau. What about Tevez? What formation would he slot into? What about Kaka. Where would he slot and doesn't he make Pastore redundant? Or would Kaka be more of a 9.5, but then who plays the role of the #9? What about Nene and Menez? If you have Pastore, Kaka, Nene and Menez with Sissoko, Matuidi and Chantome you find a very crowed midfield.

PSG is sitting in a good position, they are our of the Europa League so can focus on domestic football. They sit 3 points clear of second, even after playing through a poor spell. Do they need a big name striker? Not sure. Hourau is coming back from injury and should assist. They might need some more depth in the midfield, especially if Ancelotti sticks with his preferred 4-3-2-1 formation. I also believe that we will see more success over the summer transfer window, if and when PSG are qualified for the Champions League.

12 more days...how many more players can avoid PSG during the transfer window?

Real Madrid....the bottumless pit of money

So Real Madrid goes out and signs Kaka for 56m pounds and then turns around and signs Ronaldo for 80m pounds...um so much for a global economic down turn. The Galaticos are back at it looking to rebuild the start studded team similar to the one that had the likes of Ronaldo (the now fat Brazilian one), Beckham, Zidane, Carlos, Figo....to name a few. Those teams were able to win silverware, the Zidane team being the last to capture the Champions League. Clearly watching hated rival Barcelona win 2 Champions Leagues since then as well as crashing out this season has made Real Madrid tact back to their strategy of collecting the world's most expensive football players and not thinking about the cost or if it will work.

However, this crazy move might be just what this team needed. With Robben on one wing and Ronaldo on the other, they can slot Kaka in the middle, with Raul/Van Nistelrooy up front. Higuain can be the offensive joker off the bench and a rotation starter on the wings or up front. Diarra and Gago will be looked to as the holding duo sitting behind this offensive formation. Ronaldo and Kaka are also versital enough to play different formations/positions.

The danger is that both players are used to having teams built around their talents. How will they handle having to be on the pitch and sharing the ball? It will be an interesting experience to watch...if they don't go deep in the Champions League...it could get ugly in Madrid

Insanity put on hold for now

With Kaka officially staying with AC Milan, the insanity that is Manchester City football will die down at least for now. It will be interesting to see who Manchester City turns their attention to...and what premium they will have to pay for anyone's services. The latest rumor is that ManCity will look to poach JTerry from Chelsea, I am sure that would be cheap....another rumor is that the citizens are looking to get Titi Henry from Barca. Maybe last season this would have been more feasible but this season Henry has become a more integral part of the Barcelona's strategy. And Barca is poised to go far in the Champions League, so why would he want to leave?

It will be interesting to see if Manchester City will go ahead and make a big splash or fall back into second tier status in England....

Is he leaving or not?

The latest on the Kaka to Manchester City news is that the Citizens have pulled out of negotiations. Hmmmm, posturing or is the deal really dead? I think much more of the former. When you are talking about the sums of money on the table and the talk that has been coming out of Manchester about getting such world class players, not sure how this deal will just die. Now, maybe Kaka does not end up in baby blue in February, but I would be surprised if he was not in that colored stripe come next August.

Of course it does not help when the president of Milan, Silvio Berlusconi , comes out and says his Brazilian is not for sale. But again, posturing? I think so. 100m pounds in transfer fees will make any team think twice about holding on to any player. Adding those funds can allow any team to "rebuild."

I think that Silvio will end up taking the money from the Citizens and run. Manchester City will just add another jewel to their ever growing stable of players that an unlimited coffer can purchase.

The insanity continues...will the citizens really snag Kaka?

The latest news in the transfer market is that Manchester City's on again, off again flirtation with Kaka is back on. The sums being discussed are completely outrageous - over 100m pounds in transfer fees for the Brazilian, which would completely eclipse the previous record of 46m pounds for Zidane when he went from Juventus to Real Madrid. This is completely and utterly ridiculous. What is happening to the transfer market when we can talk about over 100million pound fees, not including whatever fees City will have to pay for Kaka.

What happens if the sugar daddies of Manchester City decide to walk away from the club? If you cannot sustain your team thru you every day business operations, can you really expect sustainable success? Someone needs to bring some semblance of financial sanity to world football.