22 April, 1997
São Paulo, Brazil
On a sunny day in São Paulo…
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I felt no aches. I felt an energy in my body that I haven't felt in decades. The next thing I noticed was that I was not in my bedroom. This room was different.
Posters of many footballers. Many Brazilians. Some European. Ronaldo. Van Basten. Rivaldo. Cryuff. Best. Then there were the posters of Jesus Christ. Verses from the bible. This is definitely not my bedroom.
I wanted to take a stock of what's happening and where I am. Everything looked old. No smartphone. No computer. No electronics whatsoever.
This is very strange.
So, I wanted to get out of bed and look for more clues about where I am, how I ended up here and what happened the day before. Because the last thing I remember was going to bed after a very boring day at the office.
While I was thinking about all this, I caught a look at the mirror and froze in shock. I rubbed my eyes and pinched myself to confirm that this was not a dream and that I was not hallucinating. Because in the mirror right in front of me was definitely a young version of Kaka.
That was when the memories hit. I winced in pain as memories were dumped into my brain one by one. I couldn't do anything to stop it or control it. But slowly, the memories trickled down. After what felt like a decade, it stopped. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. This was a lot to take in. Because I now had the memories of Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite.
I didn't just have the memories of Kaka.
I AM Kaka.
This is nuts. Of all the things that I could imagine happening, this was not on the cards. A transmigration. There was no other explanation for how I am in a 15-year-old body of Kaka with all his memories. I needed to calm myself down before I had a panic attack. I closed my eyes and started some basic breathing exercises.
But, I couldn't get myself to relax. This was like a dream come true.
In my past life, I was an avid football fan. Never got the opportunity to play seriously because of my circumstances but I consumed a lot of football.
Kaka was one of my favourite footballers growing up. It was so heartbreaking to see him suffer from all those injuries and not be able to reach his true peak. He deserved better. He deserved to be on the throne.
On the contrary, I was anything but special. Everything about my life screamed mediocre. No special skills. A penchant for making the worst choices no matter the situation.
Be it education, job, love life, or financial management. My life was an ocean of regrets. And this was a new start. This was everything I could have hoped for and more. There were countless days when I would stare at my ceiling from my bed and wish for just a chance to go back in time.
To make better choices.
To work harder.
To live a little.
A chance to become anything but the husk of mediocrity that I was.
And this was that chance. To be in the body of a 15-year-old Kaka. I wanted to see if this body had the skills of Kaka or my past self. So, I quickly picked up the football that was lying around and started to do kick-ups. And to my absolute delight, this was all Kaka.
A couple of tears fell down my face. I couldn't control myself and just started sobbing. This was a culmination of every bad choice I made in my past life, but also because of what this opportunity means to me. To be something. To be happy. And if everything works out, to be the GOAT.
After calming down and freshening up a bit, I realised that today was my birthday. For some strange reason, I didn't feel old. I felt like I was 15.
My thoughts were Kaka's. We have become a single person. This was something I really appreciated. This is a blank slate for me.
So, I needed to make a list of things that I wanted to achieve in this new life. For myself and also for Kaka.
Journey to being the greatest is not an easy task. The first thought that came to my mind was that yes, Kaka had the skills, but he was also riddled with injuries. I remember how he was injured when he was 18 at a swimming pool, and had a spinal injury so bad that he thought he wouldn't play football again. That incident was also when he became a full-time religious zealot. He attributed his recovery to Jesus. That was where all his "I belong to Jesus" came from.
But, I cannot let that happen. I cannot afford to get injured and lose precious years if I want to have a go at being the greatest.
So, injury prevention will be going on my list.
I am in São Paulo now. If everything goes well, I shall soon be signing my first contract. It was 1997. I plan to accelerate my progression so that I can sign a couple of years early to AC Milan. Of course, I was planning to go there. With Maldini, Cafu, Nesta, Ambrosini, Costa, Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso, Shevchenko, and Inzaghi. That team was a beast. With Ancellotti at the helm, they were unstoppable.
They should have won more. And with me, this time they WILL be winning more. So, priority one is to win some trophies with São Paulo and impress the world to warrant a call. In the old timeline, Kaka signed with AC Milan in 2003. This time, I wanted to be there by 2001.
Next, I don't want to be stuck in a loop of only football. I want to live my life. I want to enjoy the little things. I want to date some supermodels. Find love later on. Drive some cool cars. Travel. These are the things I couldn't do in my past. But now, with the money, popularity and everything that comes with being Kaka, I want to do everything.
I also do not want to go all out on all the investments, buying out companies and stuff. But I want some money as well. So, I will invest moderately in tech companies, become a multi-millionaire, and live life to my heart's content. That should be enough.
Being a GOAT doesn't necessarily mean winning the maximum Ballon d'Or or some other stats. I want the streets to remember me for my skill on the pitch. I want my teammates to talk about me down the line in reverence. I want defenders to talk about me in fear. I want to win a lot of trophies. I want people to remember me as the greatest attacking midfielder of all time. I should be the top choice of people while making these lists of the greatest teams or the greatest footballers.
I want to utilise social media to my advantage. I want to make my fans feel connected to me. I want to cultivate an organic relationship. I want to be ME on social media.
As for the teams I want to play in, for now, it is Milan and Brazil. Those are the priorities. I want to be a legend at Milan. And then, I will wait and see who comes calling. Just because things happened in the past doesn't mean that they will happen again. I could have caused a lot of changes to the timeline. And I want to intentionally change things as well.
I wanted to figure out the kind of footballer I want to be.
Kaka, I remember, was a force to be reckoned with. Pace, creativity and shots are his strengths. I want to build on top of that. I want to be a genius assist provider. I also want to become incredible at taking free kicks. I want to win some golden boots for being the top scorer. I want to set some records for assists as well. While thinking about this, I couldn't help but sigh. I wish I had a system to keep track of my progress and strengths. As I was thinking that, I saw a blue glow in front of my eyes. My eyes widened at that and the only word that escaped my mouth was "System…"