On August 15, Kaka flew back to Milan from Hawaii.
By then, the new signings had also arrived, and AC Milan’s squad for the 2005-06 season was basically settled.
The head coach was still Ancelotti.
After all, he’d just led the team to the Champions League title.
There was absolutely no reason to sack him.
In goal, Dida, now 31, remained the undisputed starter.
Behind him were Valerio Fiori, 36, and Željko Kalac, 32, serving as the second and third-choice goalkeepers.
The defence was even more ridiculous on paper.
Cafu, 35.
Maldini, 37.
Kaladze, 27.
Costacurta, 39.
Nesta, 29.
Simić, 29.
Jankulovski, 28.
Serginho, 34.
Jaap Stam, 33.
It was a defensive unit luxurious enough to make almost any coach drool.
But the problem was obvious.
They were old.
Very old.
The starting defence was packed with veterans, which raised two major questions.
How quickly could they reach top form at the start of the season?
And once the campaign entered its second half, would their legs still hold up?
Then came midfield.
Kaka, 23.
Gattuso, 27.
Rui Costa, 33.
Johann Vogel, 28.
Seedorf, 29.
Pirlo, 26.
Ambrosini, 28.
Experience.
Energy.
Control and Stability.
They had all of it.
It was a genuine golden midfield.
And then there was the attack.
Shevchenko, 28.
Inzaghi, 32.
Gilardino, 23.
Vieri, 32.
Just how absurd was that forward line?
First, Shevchenko.
The reigning Ballon d’Or winner.
A complete striker.
A walking nuclear warhead.
He was right in the middle of his technical and physical prime, Milan’s undisputed attacking leader and sharpest weapon.
He had scored 17 Serie A goals the previous season and remained one of the most dangerous forwards in Europe.
Then there was Inzaghi.
The master of living on the offside line.
The king of opportunism.
Milan’s ultimate penalty-box predator.
Injuries had wrecked most of his previous season, but when fit, he was still one of Serie A’s most dangerous strikers.
Then came Gilardino.
Only 23.
One of the hottest young forwards in Italy.
He had scored 23 league goals for Parma the previous season and possessed strength, technique, composure, and excellent finishing.
And again…
He was only twenty-three.
Finally, Vieri.
The former tank of Italian football.
A world-class centre-forward at his peak.
Age and injuries had inevitably taken something away from him, but even then, he had still scored 13 goals for Inter the previous season.
Four high-level strikers.
And behind them, there was now a Kaka who had already begun showing the scoring instincts of an elite forward.
When Milan supporters looked at that attacking lineup…
They practically lost their minds.
Unfortunately, Crespo’s loan extension ultimately collapsed.
Milan were willing to continue paying his wages, and Crespo himself wanted to stay, but Chelsea refused to extend the loan.
Their position was simple.
Permanent transfer.
Or he comes back.
Nothing else.
The two clubs couldn’t reach an agreement.
So in the end, Crespo had no choice but to return to Chelsea.
Even without him, though, Milan’s management and supporters were already delighted with the squad they’d assembled.
Kaka, however, wasn’t nearly as excited.
Because he remembered how this season was supposed to end.
Empty-handed.
In Serie A, Milan would collect 88 points from 38 matches and still finish second.
No league title.
In the Champions League, they would reach the semi-finals before being eliminated by a Barcelona side at its peak, watching the Catalans go on to conquer Europe.
The domestic cups offered nothing either.
They would go out of the Coppa Italia in the quarter-finals.
And they weren’t even involved in the Supercoppa Italiana.
All that talent.
All those stars.
And at the end of the season?
Nothing.
Absolutely miserable.
Under the influence of tactics, chemistry, and individual form, Milan’s luxurious forward line ran into problems almost immediately.
The starting partnership of Shevchenko and Gilardino never really clicked.
To accommodate Sheva, Gilardino was often forced into duties he wasn’t particularly comfortable with.
Inzaghi could still make an impact from the bench, but that alone wasn’t enough to solve every problem.
As for Vieri, injuries dragged him deeper and deeper into trouble.
His form collapsed, and by the end of the season, he would leave Milan in disappointment.
The defence wasn’t much better.
They started the season in poor form, and at first Milan managed to cover for it through sheer attacking quality and the relative weakness of some opponents.
But eventually, age caught up with them.
In the second half of the season, Maldini’s injuries flared up again and effectively ended his campaign.
Stam’s old pelvic problem kept him in and out of the team.
Nesta, increasingly exhausted from holding the defence together almost single-handedly, eventually broke down as well and was forced out before the Champions League semi-finals.
Even the seemingly indestructible Cafu began missing matches regularly.
Looking at a squad carrying this many hidden problems, Kaka found it difficult to be overly optimistic.
But that didn’t stop him from throwing himself into the new season with everything he had.
After all…
Matches meant points.
And points were his cheat code.
If he could drag this problem-ridden Milan side all the way back to the top of Europe, his standing in football history would rise enormously as well.
…
Pre-season training began on schedule.
At the first full squad session, Kaka greeted the new arrivals, Vieri, Gilardino, and Vogel, before catching up with his old teammates.
Then came the physical tests.
For most footballers, pre-season was a nightmare.
Two months of holidays, good food, late nights, and general indulgence usually meant one thing.
Extra weight.
Reduced fitness.
Pain.
So at the beginning of every season, the coaching staff would impose strict fitness programmes to get everyone back into shape as quickly as possible.
Kaka, however, had no problems.
His weight was ideal and his muscles were in excellent condition.
Despite spending the summer travelling, attending sponsor events, and enjoying himself, he hadn’t developed the kind of habits that could seriously damage his fitness.
Compared with certain teammates who treated the offseason like a festival…
He’d behaved himself.
After leaving the examination room, Kaka happened to run into Shevchenko in the corridor.
Sheva merely gave him a brief nod before walking inside with the medical staff.
Kaka, who had originally planned to stop and chat, watched him disappear through the door.
Then shrugged.
Something was off.
During the summer, Kaka’s contract situation had been discussed everywhere.
His teammates had called him one after another asking what was going on, and Kaka had answered them openly.
Once the saga ended and he signed the new deal, though, one problem became impossible to ignore.
His salary.
€6 million a year.
Exactly level with Shevchenko, the highest-paid player in the squad.
And footballers were footballers.
No matter how professional they were, salary often represented status.
Before this, Sheva had been the undisputed number one.
Ballon d’Or winner.
Highest earner.
Main attacking weapon.
The team’s biggest star.
Then Kaka renewed.
Suddenly, Sheva wasn’t alone at the top anymore.
That naturally created a little pressure.
And it wasn’t only him.
Even senior figures like Pirlo and Maldini probably felt at least slightly uncomfortable.
Fortunately, these were professionals.
Normal adults.
Nobody was going to tear the dressing room apart because of a temporary bruise to the ego.
But pretending there was absolutely no discomfort at all would have been unrealistic.
The early training sessions themselves were fairly uneventful.
Since the players had only just returned from holiday, the coaching staff didn’t dare push the intensity too hard.
Kaka followed the rest of the squad through fitness runs, rondos, passing drills, and shooting practice.
Days passed quickly.
Then, almost before he realised it, August 27 arrived.
The new season was about to begin.
Milan’s first match would be away against Ascoli, who had just returned to Serie A after thirteen years away.
Kaka was already rubbing his hands together.
First match of the season.
Newly promoted opponent.
Perfect!
Time to farm some numbers.
While making the supporters who loved him thoroughly enjoy themselves, Kaka had only one thing he wanted to say to poor little Ascoli.
“Welcome back to Serie A!”