Former very great tricolor hope, the former striker has a lot of burning during his career. Today he sets a critical look at the world of professional football.
“I had a little problem with French taxes.” The sentence, dropped without detour by Gaël Kakuta, sets the tone of the story. In the summer of 2024, when his career fogged and tracks like Besiktas, Turkey, had passed out, it was an Instagram message and, he admits, a tax constraint that pushed him to accept a contract … in Iran. “I did not want to go to Iran,” says the 33 -year -old attacking midfielder, now in Sakaryaspor in the Turkish second division, at the microphone ofRMC. But economic and personal reality ended up prevailing.
Kakuta, a former prodigy passed by Chelsea, the RC Lens and the Sevilla FC, tells a trajectory made of missed opportunities, exotic detours and a tumultuous interior course.
Read also:
“Kylian Mbappé will pay a lot of taxes, and that’s a good thing!” The government is delighted with the footballer’s record contract
Between the loss of his mother, a divorce and a depression which nails him on the ground, he admits having hesitated until the last minute-“I even wanted to pretend to sleep to miss the plane”-before flying away, bible in my pocket, towards an experience that will change everything: “There, I found myself alone, with the Bible with me. My mother always told me. Returning.
But beyond faith, Kakuta paints an uncompromising portrait of professional football. “You are in an environment where you cannot be nice. You have to show the fangs, you must show your law in the locker room. There are some to do that naturally, others who create a character, a character. But from my point of view and what I experienced, you become a monster.”
Read also:
The star of the Blues Kylian Mbappé claims to pay his taxes in France
For him, the construction of a character – between media posture and personal protection – has become an unwritten rule which often ends up devouring individuals.
Sportingly, his itinerary talks about a talent in search of stability: fifteen clubs, ten countries, and today Turkey. Spiritually rearmed, he does not hide his lucidity on his past: “I realized that by ego and pride I had spoiled opportunities.” This awareness accompanies his return to competition but also changes his reading of the profession.
Worth a look
