Wednesday, January 21, 2009

AC Milan 'bottled Kaka transfer'

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Manchester City's executive chairman Garry Cook has accused AC Milan of "bottling" the deal to bring Kaka to the Premier League club.

The £100m deal to take the Brazilian star to Eastlands collapsed on Monday and Cook says the Italian club are to blame for the failed transfer.

"If you want my personal opinion they bottled it," Cook told the BBC.

"He clearly was for sale but we never got to meet with the player, the behaviour of AC Milan got in the way."

Manchester City felt they were close to landing the 26-year-old attacking midfielder after sending a delegation to Milan to negotiate what would have been a world-record transfer.

The Premier League club was reportedly also set to pay Kaka wages of £500,000 a week to quit Milan for Manchester.

But Kaka announced his decision to stay at AC Milan on the club's television channel on Monday

He said: "At the moment I don't want to change anything.

"All the messages that I received said to choose with the heart and I think in the end that has been the decision. It is absolutely not about money."

But Cook says "political" issues led to Milan changing their stance on Kaka's proposed transfer.

"We met with the football club and they made it quite clear that Kaka was for sale and we made it quite clear that we wanted to bring him to Manchester City Football Club," Cook told 5 live Breakfast.

"As we got through to the next stage there were questions that were asked that they then couldn't answer.

"The political pressure they came under and the public space that they were trying to live this negotiation through maybe changed the conditions. And again, like I say, I think they bottled it.

We never met the player so it was very difficult for him to turn down Manchester City when we didn't even get to make him an offer."

Cook did meet with Kaka's father, who also acts as his advisor, and the City chief says the player was keen on a move to Eastlands.

Cook revealed he spent nearly seven hours talking with Kaka's father about the 'journey' Manchester City are embarking on.

In total, City representatives flew to Milan four times and Monday's meeting also involved three Manchester City lawyers, a senior club executive and a board member who travelled to Italy from Abu Dhabi.

"His dad said he was very interested in the project," said Cook.

"We talked a lot about a humanitarian approach and also environmental issues and the statements his son would like to make around the world.

"He is truly respected around the world not only for his capabilities as a footballer.

"Unfortunately when we talked to Milan yesterday those issues were taking a back seat and the financial demands were coming to the fore.

"It's a shame he won't be able to join us on our journey."

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