Will Milan's signing of Ronaldinho pave way for Kaka's departure?

AC Milan have unveiled their latest big name signing in the form of Ronaldinho in front of thousands of Rossenieri supporters at the Giusieppe Meazza but could his move purely be a smoke-screen for a departure of Kaka?

Chelsea have been strongly linked with an approach for Ronaldinho's International team-mate and will undoubtedly be aware of earlier statements from Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani that all his club, "would need to do in order to wipe out our debts is sell Kaka and Pirlo."

Today's unveiling of the Brazilian star will have gone a long way to pleasing Milan fans who are still coming terms with their sides failure to qualify for next seasons Champions League and Chelsea must realise that the timing is right to come in with a new offer.

It seems that an initial 'astronomical' bid for Kaka was turned down by AC but with Ronaldinho's supposed £15 million price-tag deepening the clubs debts, a new offer of similar value may prove too tempting for the Italian giants to turn down.

The loss of Kaka would be a huge blow to the San Siro support such is their level of feeling for the attacker yet Milan's movement in the transfer market this Summer so far would suggest that there midfield has become slightly overcrowded.

The Rossonieiri have completed three major transfers this Summer with Mathieu Flamini Gianluca Zambrotta and of course Ronaldinho heading for Italy with the latter and Flamini both exclusively midfielders.

The current first-team squad at Milan is now made up of 11 midfielders with eight of these able to be deployed as central midfielders. Many of the midfielders which Milan currently posses are understandably huge names in the World of football and will now be worried about there role in the squad. Kaka himself however does not appear as though he is fazed by Ronaldinho's signing telling a press conference, "I am very happy with the arrival of Ronaldinho because he brings a lot of quality and skill to Milan that will help us to win titles."

According to reports Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich made a gutsy approach to capture Kaka last week when he spent the afternoon on his luxury yacht with Galliani but was told that the Milan playmaker was not for sale at any price although just what 'any price' means to the Russian is anybody's guess.

Galliani himself offered up-to £15 million for want-away striker Andriy Shevchenko but was also told in no uncertain terms that a transfer for the Ukrainian's was not possible.

Whether in the coming weeks Galliani or Abramovich change their stance on the future of their players will remain to be seen, one thing is for sure, with the amount of transfer saga's floating around this Summer you can bet there'll be plenty more to mull over before the start of the new season.

Written by John Ford - A Freelance Football Journalist