AC Milan prepare to lose their 'darling' Kaka to Manchester City for astounding £135m

An 'understanding’ with Milan that City would pay whatever fee the Italians wanted was not enough for oil barons used to getting their way. What do you do when the offer that can’t be refused is turned down, when the blank cheque isn’t enough? Blow that offer out of the water.

An unspoken offer of £91 million not enough? OK, then, how about a package of £135 million with £107m to buy the player and £28m to pay the middlemen involved in the most extraordinary deal in the history of the game.

Such is the magnitude of the offer AC Milan are considering, as revealed by Mauro Suma, the respected voice of the club whose television show fans turn to when they return from work. The deal is not done, he claimed, but nothing in a world dominated by the image-conscious Silvio Berlusconi goes unscripted.

Milan know what happens in Italy when clubs shed their best players. Fans riot, regimes are toppled. A bid of such scale had to be accepted, but for three days Milan had to prepare the ground to save face in front of distraught fans.

Not only losing their star man, their darling, but to a team they have barely heard of. If City can buy the star man of one of the biggest teams in history, what does that mean for Milan? Where are they in the new order?

Such was the rationale as Milan tried to play down the first 'understanding’, seeming powerful when they were powerless in the face of a sheikh determined to get his man. The second bid comes in, is announced as being even bigger, and suddenly Milan look potent again. They haggled. They drove a hard bargain. They did their best.

City sources were anxious to play down the reports of an increased formal offer last night, insisting Milan were playing games. They are growing increasingly irritated at the club’s behaviour.

But tellingly they are not yet prepared to walk away from the chance to land one of the biggest names in the game.

The next 24 hours will be crucial. If, as reported, Milan have granted City permission to talk to Kaka then the real task begins in trying to persuade the player to turn his back on football’s European aristocracy for the game’s latest upstarts. Kaka’s father and adviser, Bosco Leite, will be crucial and he will meet key middleman Kia Joorabchian this weekend, although exacly who he is acting for remains unclear.

Regardless of the eventual cost of the deal, City manager Mark Hughes says the transfer is in the club’s best interest as a business and a team.

“This is no scattergun approach to world stars of football,” he said. “Kaka has been a target for many months and we have made a measured, calculated decision about what works for us and what he brings to the club. He is the type of player we need to drive this club forward.”

He added: “It would be wrong if people tried to separate me from these decisions. They start at a football level and my remit is to identify the players we need and make recommendations. Then the chairman and the chief executive work out the financial package.”

Hughes admitted tacitly that even if Kaka were signed, his other transfer targets would still be pursued. He has unlimited funds to buy whoever he wants. West Ham and Blackburn know that, and that is why they are holding out for more money.

The reality is that Milan are no more important than either of those clubs in light of Abu Dhabi’s oil trillions. Money talks and resistance is futile, whoever you are.

Welcome to the new world order.

History lesson

A number of Manchester City’s headline-grabbing signings have had contrasting fortunes:

Kazimierz Deyna: The Poland international made his City debut in November 1978. Hampered by injury, he made 38 appearances before he left in January 1981. Later that year, appeared in the film Escape to Victory.

Steve Daley: Joined from Wolves in September 1979 for then British record £1,437,500 but was sold 20 months later to Seattle for £300,000. He was dubbed “the biggest waste of money in football history”.

George Weah: The European and World Best Player of the Year in 1995, he moved to Maine Road in 2000, but made only seven appearances.