Reuters Soccer Blog

Well, at least it wasn’t all bad news for Manchester City on Monday,

You win some, you lose some, as the old saying goes and they may have lost out on Kaka, but City did sign Craig Bellamy from West Ham United.

The Welsh firebrand may not have quite the charisma of the Brazilian pin-up, or quite the same talent, or quite the same following — but he certainly brings something to every club he plays for.

And at 14.0 million pounds he also represents something of a bargain for the club’s owners who can safely put their 100 million pounds or whatever it was they were prepared to spend on Kaka back in their wallets for now.

Still with two weeks still to go before the transfer window closes, this might not be the end of the speculation linking City with some big name players.

Roque Santa Cruz at Blackburn Rovers has been a long-time target, and with Nigel de Jong of SV Hamburg seemingly on his way and Wayne Bridge there already, City’s squad is slowly improving.

So although Kaka may not be lining up alongside his Brazilian compatriot Robinho for the foreseeable future, perhaps someone else will be.

City might have failed to sign Kaka, but could 500 million tempt Lionel Messi, or John Terry or Cristiano Ronaldo to Eastlands in the next two weeks ? 

Probably not — the Kaka deal may be dead, but a new one might well be just around the corner.