Surprise, Surprise: The Little Kaka is Back in Milan

By: Martha | July 25th, 2007

Digao In a move the cynics among us would say was calculated only to please a certain Brazilian midfielder, AC Milan signed Ricky Kaka’s kid brother Digão (that’s his seemingly self-created effort at being a one-name star — his real name is Rodrigo Leite) back in 2004. Needless to say, Digão — a defender — never played for Milan, and after he left the youth setup he immediately went out on loan to Serie B side Rimini. In two years with the club, he’s made only six appearances, a number which either indicates terrible injury problems or a lack of high-level ability. (But even if he can’t play, at least the crazy kid knows how to party. Oh, wait.)

Despite his lack of success even in Serie B, though, Digão is currently in training with the full Milan team, alongside such luminaries as Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini and, oh yeah, his big brother. Who has repeatedly said he wants to play with Digão. Hmm. This sudden, random increase in the 21-year-old’s profile wouldn’t have anything to do with a solid month of rumors about Kaka being tempted to move abroad, would it? Think Milan are maybe trying to remind big bro just how much they’ve done for him — and perhaps how much they’re willing to do in the future?

Not that I’m throwing stones, mind you — I guess this is just how things work when you’ve got more money than sense and want to make things run smoothly for those who are important to you. After all, there were unsubstantiated rumors earlier this month that Inter had acquired work permits for five members of Pato’s family in an effort to sway his affections in their direction — it’s just how things work among football’s high-rollers.

Must be nice to be rich.

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Category: AC Milan, Rumors & News, Serie A

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tako

digao is very lovly for me i love him and i like kaka but digao i love mach es kaka and i'm very heppy that digai is in milan kaka and digao will ply together very goooood this was surprais tu me
Ro

I'm actually excited that he's coming to play heck if this kid is anything like kakito (my nickname for kaka) then come to mamma sweetie. I can't wait to see if he's got any talent like kaka.

And yes it does sound like favortisim but kaka has done a lot for milan and vice versa so I think that this is just another one of milan's things to show that they are willing to do anything to keep him. They are trying to make him happy. If he can do good who know maybe he'll be able to take over for maldini when he retires. It just that you won't know until you see it.

Everyone was so skeptic about Oddo and Ronaldo and look at them. So what if they were already distinguished players no one thought they would do good and ROnaldo's frist time out he scored and Oddo played briliantly.

Sorry for my rant I'm done now.
J

hey, at least digao's young! k's right, you never know a player's worth till u have seen it for yourself. i look forward to seeing this boy get a chance. still keeping my fingers crossed though.
k

fair enough... but neither had a 17 year old maldini, nor a 20 year old kaka or a 19 year old gourcuff... and im not sayin that he is the second coming of god, but still, i just think its hard to prove your self to be good enough for milan if you havent had the chance yet... unless your some one like messi who is good enough to win ballon dor by the time he is 20.
in retrospect... maldini came directly from the youth side at 17 so he couldn't have possibly done enough to play alongside baresi, but boy are we glad he got his chance... that being said, if the kid blows, without showing any promise, ill be the first one to say get that idiot out of there, since we have plenty of players with more promise in the primavera
Martha

K, I acknowledge it's a bit unfair to dismiss him out of hand, but even you have to admit it's hard NOT to be cynical about this -- in that few games over two year with a (good) Serie B side, no matter the reason he didn't play more, there's no way he's had time to prove himself worthy of being a Milan player.
k

oh and i have no doubt that we will spend a lot of resources on little maldini as well... partly coz he owned seedorf and partly coz he is the son of god...
k

uncool... give the kid a chance... we all know paolo maldini stepped on the field for ac milan partly because of his talent but we have had plenty of youth with insane talent that never saw the pitch in a milan jersey... part of the reason was that his dad was an ex-captain... dont write the kid of before he has had his chance.. unless some one who has seen him at rimini could tell me exactly why he didnt play, i refuse to write him off.. and that was bad translation...
what he actually said was that i hope to be a symbol of milan in the future, and i dont see nothing wrong with that statement.. who wouldn't wanna be a symbol of milan
rose

he looks like a mix between ricky, and a friend of mine. odd, yet still hot.
Louise

I thought Christian Maldini was Little Kaka.
Gianfranco

Damnit, i cant deal with the face of the franchise business...and this guy needs to party with Adriano, I mean talk about boring.
Martha

Maybe they need to lend him to someone battling relegation next time. Or, better yet, a Serie C side! (Either that, of course, or let him take up a spot with the big club.)

Yeah -- and the self-appointed face of the franchise, no less. Boy do I hope that was a just a bad translation.
Joe

I forgot to mention that I should duck out of the way of flying objects.
Joe

...and this is why Serie A is so damn interesting. Rimini is actually a really good side. They were fighting for a playoff spot right up until the last week. I guess this is what you do for the "face of the franchise."