Man City accuses Milan of reneging on Kaka deal

Rob Harris

Manchester City accused AC Milan on Tuesday of reneging on an agreement to sell Kaka to the Premier League club and blamed the Brazil star's father for being too greedy.

City executive chairman Garry Cook sharply criticized the Serie A club, a day after leading the team's delegation to Milan hoping to complete the world-record transfer of almost 100 million pounds ($147 million; euro111 million).

The proposal fell through Monday night with Milan and the Brazilian announcing that he was staying in Italy.

"Milan bottled it - they lost their nerve," Cook said in an interview with two reporters. "They had agreed to sell their prize possession and we had agreed to buy him. We had decided to build a business model around it which was a little sophisticated for them to understand."

Cook met Monday with Kaka's father and chief adviser, Bosco Leite, and presented a vision that City thought would appeal to Kaka's deeply religious side.

"We really believed and we do believe Kaka has the capability to be the next global ambassador for the game," Cook said. "We wanted to help develop that through a foundation. He is truly a humanitarian of the highest order and we truly respect him not only for his capabilities for this, but also his approach to humanity and we wanted to work on it.

"We believed and his father believed that these were all issues standing in the way of getting an offer - but he wanted an offer."

Cook believes that Leite was only interested in the financial rewards for his son.

"There was Stage 1 - Milan. Stage 2 - what's the plan? Stage 3 - what's the offer?" Cook said. "He wanted the offer. He did not want to sit and talk about the rest of the stuff. ...

"We would have put resources there to help build his foundation and truly send a message to global football about what great players can do that is not related to money. He used the term it is not just about money. The irony was it was about money. It was just too sophisticated."

With Kaka backed by 20 personal sponsorship deals linked to him remaining at Milan, City were presented with a complex scenario. But while City had three lawyers, Kaka's father tried to personally handle negotiations himself.

"It is like buying a business, you have to carry out your due diligence so you know what you are buying," Cook said. "If each one of those sponsors decides if the player goes to Manchester City they are pulling out, there is a consequence for the player.

"There is a long-term impact, both financial and on his image."

Cook said City still plans to turn City into a global football force, noting Monday's signing of Craig Bellamy, a 29-year-old striker who appeared in only 24 league matches and scored seven goals in 18 months at West Ham.

"If we don't get Kaka it is not the end of the world, we got Craig Bellamy," Cook said.

Cook acknowledged that it is difficult for City to lure players from a club that is accustomed to Champions League football, like Milan.

"I look in the mirror and say, 'Is it us?"' Cook said while overlooking the City of Manchester stadium's field. "Maybe this club is not quite ready yet. But I truly believe we are going on that journey.

"It is a shame because if the player (Kaka) had been able to come with us that journey may have been accelerated by a couple of years - but it doesn't deter us from what we are trying to do."

Central to that is the backing of Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who led Abu Dhabi United's takeover of City in September and was estimated earlier this month to have a personal fortune of 15 billion pounds ($22.2 billion; euro16.5 billion).

Regardless of that, Cook believed that the huge fee for Kaka was a sensible deal that would eventually generate a healthy profit.

"Over the five-year period, if everything went well, we would show a return on the investment and satisfy the needs of the fans, financial community and employees," Cook said. "It was all coming together but when we got down to it, the father just wanted to know how much we were going to pay him."

Cook also said he wasn't willing to spend Mansour's cash recklessly just to satisfy long-suffering fans, whose last major trophy was the 1976 League Cup.

"If you applied that approach and went into negotiations with that in mind, yesterday I would have spent another 100 million pounds (to get him)," Cook said. "Would that have been right thing to do? You said people felt let down, is it better to spend the money and have him playing on the football pitch.

"My point is the fans are an important part of it. But there is fiscal responsibility for this football club."

MANCHESTER, England, AP