Kaka deal out of the window

Kaka’s proposed world record transfer to Manchester City last night collapsed amid controversy and acrimony.

STAYING Kaka is not swapping AC Milan for Manchester City STAYING: Kaka is not swapping AC Milan for Manchester City

AC Milan president, Silvio Berlusconi, announced he had rejected City’s £100million offer after the Brazilian superstar had pleaded with him to stay at the San Siro.

But City officials were claiming they had pulled the plug after realising Kaka’s heart was not in the move.

Berlusconi said: “It was his intervention and mine. When I heard that he wanted to stay and that he hadn’t been influenced by the offer of a high wage, but by the affection of his friends and the fans these last few days, I embraced him.  Kaka does not have a price. He has taken himself off the market and decided to stick with his Milan contract. 

“It’s a contract signed with sentiment and from the heart. We have put an end to this. I am delighted that I have kept Kaka at Milan.

He’s a great champion and a great man

Silvio Berlusconi

“He’s a great champion and a great man. He has turned down Manchester City’s offer, preferring to stay at Milan, for his friends and for the fans. He said no because money is not everything in life.

“We are happy. Money is important, but there are other more important things. As a supporter I am delighted. Kaka’s decision to turn down such a large offer is to be admired.”

Thousands of Milan fans had demonstrated at the club’s HQ in protest at the proposed sale.

Kaka is understood to have been at odds with his father Bosco Leite over whether he should quit the club where he has been adored for six years. 

He underlined where his sentiments lay by leaning out of a window of his luxury home clutching a Milan shirt and beating his heart with a clenched fist to the delight of hundreds of demonstrators.

But businessman Bosco  was desperate to push the deal through because of the £15m-a-year salary on offer – double what he is on at the San Siro – and Milan officials had made it clear City’s offer was simply to good to refuse as they looked to rebuild an ageing team.

But after a day of emotional and frantic negotiations, City officials found themselves caught in a tug-of-war between Kaka and his adoring fans on one side and his father and Milan on the other.

In the end, Kaka and the fans have won, with Berlusconi concerned at the damage a fans’ revolt could do not only to Milan’s reputation and their hopes of regaining Champions League status, but also his popularity as Italy’s Prime Minister.

City manager Mark Hughes had been on standby to fly to Milan to try help convince Kaka to join City. Hughes has taken his squad to a warm-weather training camp in Tenerife because City do not have a game this weekend. He was waiting for a call from Italy, where City’s executive chairman Garry Cook and director Simon Pearce had opened negotiations with Kaka’s father and his agent Diogo Kotscho yesterday.

Milan were keen to accept City’s offer, but Berlusconi did not want to be seen pushing Kaka out of the door, especially after seeing the huge demonstration outside the club’s HQ.

Berlusconi had given Cook and Pearce, who is Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour’s worldwide public relations chief, permission to make a formal presentation to Kaka’s representatives of the club’s ambitions to break into the Champions League within two years. The two 

City power brokers  emphasised the Sheikh’s long-term commitment to establishing the Blues as one of Europe’s top club by signing a string of the world’s best players. 

If they had received indications that Kaka could be swayed, then Hughes would have flown in to add his weight to negotiations and to tell the player face-to-face of his footballing strategy.

But last night any deal appeared to be over. Kaka is contracted to Milan until 2013 – and if he goes anywhere in the future it is likely to be Real Madrid.

As the Kaka deal collapsed, Hughes underlined the Sheikh’s unlimited cash resources by taking his spending in seven months in charge to a staggering £119m. 

City followed the £14m transfer of striker Craig Bellamy from West Ham by agreeing an £18m fee with Hamburg for midfielder Nigel de Jong.

Holland international De Jong will fly in for talks over personal terms and a medical in the next 48 hours. With Wayne Bridge already signed for £12m from Chelsea,  that will take Hughes’ spending in the January transfer window to £44m.

He splashed £75m last summer on Robinho (£32m), Jo (£18m), Shaun Wright-Phillips (£9m), Vincent Kompany (£6m), Pablo Zabaleta (£6m) and Tal Ben Haim (£4m). 

Bellamy, 29, passed a medical and signed a four- and-a-half year contract. He will meet his new team- mates when he flies out today  to join City at their Tenerife training camp.

Hughes said: “I am thrilled to be working with Craig once more. He is an outstanding player who will provide us with qualities that we have been slightly lacking. 

“He has blistering pace bags of enthusiasm, and has a superb attitude to training. He will be a great addition to the squad.” 

De Jong, like Bellamy, is set to make his bow against Newcastle next week. He has been out of action since October with a knee injury. 

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