January 14, 2009
Kaka 'turns down Manchester City's £91m offer'
Kaka appears to have turned down Manchester City's £91m offer, by claiming he wants to "grow old" at AC Milan.
The Brazilian playmaker was the subject of a world-record bid yesterday, with Sheikh Mansour, City's billionaire owner from Abu Dhabi, reportedly willing to offer Kaka around £13.6 million a year after tax.
However his latest statement, which has appeared on the website of Mediaset, a company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi, the Milan president and Italian Prime Minister, may now bring an end to City's hopes of completing the deal.
"I want to grow old at Milan," Kaka said. "My aim is to become, at some point in the future, the captain of this team.
"I know there is a pecking order, with (Paolo) Maldini at the front at then (Massimo) Ambrosini, but after that...
"I have already turned down some major offers."
Officials from the Barclays Premier League club met their counterparts from the Serie A team in Milan yesterday, however, yesterday Berlusconi, the Milan owner, attempted to play down reports of the offer.
“I don’t know anything about any offer, but I do hope Kaka is not for sale and that he stays," he said.