English Premier League - the Continuing Saga of Manchester City

Teams like West Ham United who were reported to have placed all its players up for sale but giving manager Gianfranco Zola the option to keep players that he chooses  and Portsmouth are said to be sufferring from dwindling resources forcing their respective managements to sell some of their best players to keep them afloat financially.

I personally wonder about Manchester United's shirt sponsorship with AIG. With the American parent company now under government hands because of the bailout plan that the Bush government issued to the firm, isn't it only fair that AIG's sponsorship be stopped because I find it odd that a company which almost collapsed but was saved by tax payers' money is actually siphoning some of it to pay United's stars with astronomical amounts of cash? I can't remember just how much the contract was worth or the terms of payment but isn't it something that is a conundrum to you in the spirit of fair play? I  do not claim to be a business insider but all I'm asking is that will somebody from AIG or even Manchester United shed some light on this?

Recently, Manchester City which was formerly owned by ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was then sold to Arab group Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG) with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the owner. Its mission statement is to make Manchester City the biggest club in the Premier League and to finish in the top four of the current season. Its first shocking signing was when they got Robinho from Real Madrid for a record fee in Britain of 32 million British Pounds after Robinho's wish to join Chelsea was turned down by Real.

For the January transfer window, the Soccer team signed left back Wayne Bridge from Chelsea for US$15 million and is now in the process of formalizing the deal with unsettled West Ham United striker Craig Bellamy for US$21 million. Mark Hughes has also finalised a deal with Bundesliga team Hamburg for the services of  Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong. The transfer fee hasn't been agreed to yet but it was reported that Manchester City may be willing to pay as much as US$27 million for de Jong.

But the transfer story of the year is whether or not AC Milan's prized Brazilian playmaker Kaka joins the team with the club having offered a more than US$150 million for his services plus a record breaking salary. It was also reported that Kaka's father, who also acts as his son's agent is scheduled to visit Manchester City and continue negotiations for his son's interests.

There are a lot of things that I am not aware of about this story. First is that is Kaka's contract with AC Milan about to expire? If not, is the record breaking financial offer a way for City to entice the Brazilian to be unsettled and therefore turn his back to Milan? Is there really such an offer forwarded to Kaka's camp of such a high sums of cash?

Whatever it is that Mark Hughes thinks that his club is actually doing the right thing in pursuing Kaka, I personally cannot swallow the fact that they seem to be flaunting their money as a bait for these established stars. If they do succeed in getting him, who is next, Lionel Messi?

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