Out of the four main sports dailies in Spain, only AS splashed the story on their front page with a huge mock-up of a beaming Kaka in a Madrid shirt and a simple headline: 'Kaka six seasons.'

Madrid-based Marca, who most would have expected to have the news screaming from the front cover, were seemingly caught more on the hop as the signing only occupied a small space in the bottom left corner.

Inside and on the newspaper's online version it was a different story as Kaka-mania took a firm grip on the Spanish capital.

Marca headlined one of their main stories with the words that every Madrid fan had been longing for, Florentino Perez's announcement, which came half an hour before the two clubs put it on their website: "Kaka has just signed: he is already ours."

The same paper has already billed Kaka as Madrid's saviour, proclaiming that he is "the boy who is more than perfect....he only needs to stand up, look and run to maintain his aura of a superstar....he has the smell of Cerezo, the essence of Zico, the liveliness of Socrates and the speed of Falcao..."

While Marca and AS waxed lyrical about Kaka and headlined their online coverage with his wish to take Madrid to the top again, and "end the hegemony of Barca", Sport and El Mundo Deportivo carried the bare minimum on the world-record-breaking transfer, concentrating on the Brazilian's confession that he never wanted to leave AC Milan.

The transfer was equally as big news in Italy and Gazzetta dello Sport blazed the news across their front page, also taking the time to consider who would come into the San Siro and warning that others could follow the playmaker out.

'Kaka adios. Eyes on Pato. Here's (Edin) Dzeko' read the headline, while underneath in smaller writing they had: 'Ricky's gone to Real: the announcement's been made. The other Brazilian (Pato), 'Am I staying at Milan? First I have to talk to (Chelsea manager Carlo) Ancelotti....' The target is the Bosnian, the bomber of the German league.'

The newspaper's online version concentrated on Kaka's insistence that Milan would always be dear to him but he had to leave to help the club during the financial crisis and that he is crying with the fans.

Corriere dello Sport, who ran a minute-by-minute ticker on the transfer, also focused on Kaka's pain at leaving the San Siro.