Madrid/Rome – There was a general sense of satisfaction in Spain at the signing of Brazilian superstar Kaka by Real Madrid, which was officially announced early on Tuesday.

In Italy, where Kaka played at AC Milan up to now, the news raised fears about a decline of the top club owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Real will pay cash-strapped Milan around 65 million euros (90.45 million dollars) for the 26 year-old Kaka, who has signed a six-year contract with Real.

It would be the second biggest transfer in football history, passed only by the almost 72 million euros Real paid Juventus Turin for France star Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

Kaka will earn around nine million euros per season at the Estadio Bernabeu, making him one of the highest paid players in the world. He will be presented by Real to the media on June 30, after playing for Brazil in the Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Real were set to start a massive merchandising campaign with Kaka replica shirts and other items on Tuesday, in an attempt to make the deal pay off commercially.

The signing of Kaka was front-page news in Spanish newspapers on Tuesday, with most papers pleased that new Real president Florentino Perez has raised the prestige of the Spanish Liga by taking such an attractive player from Italy.

Madrid saily El Pais compared the signing of Kaka with that of Zidane, during the first reign of Perez as Real president.

El Mundo, for its part, said that Kaka is the first “Galactico” star to be signed by Perez in his second term at the helm.

Perez was Real president 2000-2006, and caught the headlines across the world by signing “Galacticos” Luis Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham.

He returned as president a week ago, and has said that the team needs to be rebuilt by signing several “Galacticos” in the month of June. Also rumoured to be on his shopping list are Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Franck Ribery
(Bayern Munich), David Villa and David Silva (Valencia).

Sports dailies AS and Marca, most of whose readers are Real fans, were delighted with the signing, and faithfully reproduced the words of Kaka at the news conference in Brazil, in which he announced that he was leaving Milan for Madrid.

Catalan papers Sport and Mundo Deportivo struck a more critical note, partly out of fear that Perez has started to build a team capable of challenging the domination of “treble” champions Barcelona.

They both quoted the words of Barca president Joan Laporta from Saturday, warning that Perez’ signing could create an inflationary effect throughout European football, and that major clubs should not be seen as profligate during a time of economic crisis.

In Italy, two thirds of the readers polled by La Gazzetta dello Sport on its web site believe that losing Kaka will seriously weaken Milan. Other reports suggested that Berlusconi could be hurt as well.

Comedian Teo Teocoli, a die-hard Milan fan, told the la Repubblica daily that he could quit going to the stadium: “Kaka was the one who gave me the joy of following Milan. Now there is no Kaka, so it’s enough.”

Several commentators also feared that Kaka’s sale, which could be followed by that of Inter Milan’s Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, signal a decline of the Italian Serie A compared to other European leagues.

As Mario Sconcerti wrote on Il Corriere, big footballers “don’t run away for money, but to have fun.” (dpa)