AC Milan are not a happy club. They’ve lost their star striker (Shevchenko) to Chelsea, they’ve been accused of corruption and dragged into the mess Juve created, and now they might be relegated to Serie B.

For Milan, one of the three top clubs in Europe, all this pales in face of the rumours that their star midfielder, Kaka, has been in contact with Ramon Calderon and that they would now have to fight to keep Kaka in Milan and out of Madrid’s hands.

As Milan found out the hard way, not even the top clubs are immune when big money comes calling. Shevchenko’s reasoning behind his move to Chelsea has always been family, but while the farce was acceptable in a public setting (where footballers, like politicians, need to lie in order to save face), in reality it is nothing more than a joke.

Milan supporters will say that Kaka is different. They will point to his honesty, to the fact that he is from a decent family and is, almost in the traditional Italian mould, a family man with a strong sense of loyalty. Some will also point to the new contract Kaka has signed, after which he said that he hoped it would end the speculation about his career and that he wanted to stay at Milan.

Between then and now, Italy has been rocked by the corruption scandal, Calderon has won the elections for Real Madrid’s presidency and Capello has quit Juventus, presumably for Madrid to head Calderon’s new project. With Madrid, no player or relationship is sacred, as Ronaldo, Figo and Zidane showed several years ago, and as transfers in Italy have shown as well.

Kaka playing in the Bernabeau? He’s white, Brazilian, extremely talented and young.

For Real Madrid, any two out of those four would be enough.