- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Manchester City manager Mark Hughes remains hopeful AC Milan midfielder Kaka will join the Premier League club in a world record transfer deal, with his assistant claiming a deal is “very close”.
A reported STG100 million ($A220.6 million) bid was tabled by the English club earlier this week for the 26-year-old Brazilian.
Kaka said on Wednesday he wants to stay and “grow old” at Milan, but Hughes said negotiations were continuing and the club will pursue Kaka until the transfer window closes on February 2.
“It’s been well documented that we have expressed an interest in signing the player,” Hughes said at his regular weekly news conference in Manchester.
“Obviously (executive chairman) Garry Cook and other people went to Milan earlier in the week with a view to getting an understanding on the situation involving the player and that was done.
“But to add any substance would be wrong because what we are trying to do is concentrate on any detail that we do.”
Hughes was more cautious than assistant manager Mark Bowen.
“We believe the deal is very close,” Bowen told BBC radio earlier on Thursday.
“We are selling the future plans of the club to the player.
“Our understanding is that it is very much a strong possibility that Kaka will be coming to Manchester City.”
If the transfer goes through, it would smash the world’s previous record, set in 2001 when Real Madrid signed Zinedine Zidane from Juventus for STG65 million ($A143.39 million).
Kaka, FIFA’s player of the year in 2007, told Italian television on Wednesday that he wants to remain at Milan but that the decision is up to the club.
“I’ve always said that for as long as my goals are the same as Milan’s and they don’t want to sell me, I’ll remain a Milan player,” he said.
“Then a lot of things can happen, if one day they (Milan) want to sell me, then it’s a different story.”
Kaka has already discussed the attraction of playing in the Premier League with fellow Brazilians Robinho and Elano, who are both at City.
Sheik Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan broke the British transfer record to sign Robinho in September as the member of the United Arab Emirates’ royal family led the Abu Dhabi United Group’s purchase of City for more than STG200 million ($A441.21 million).
City, which has already signed England left back Wayne Bridge this month, is considered the only Premier League club with lots of money to spend during the January transfer window.
With City in 15th place and just two points above the relegation zone, Hughes desperately need to add more talent to a club that hasn’t won a major trophy since 1976.
City’s rivals are not so enthusiastic about Kaka’s potential arrival.
“It is just madness that these clubs can pay 100 million for one player,” Stoke midfielder Liam Lawrence said.
“It is more than what some other clubs are worth. It is frightening.”
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.