A Manchester City delegation led by the executive chairman, Garry Cook, and including Simon Pearce, Sheikh Mansour's close aide, will fly out to Italy today as the Premier League club step up their attempts to sign Kaka after a world-record £91m transfer fee was agreed with Milan.
Kaka's father and adviser, Bosco Leite, is also due in Milan to discuss the midfielder's future, with Mark Hughes claiming that it is a case of now or never for City as the manager predicted that the world's richest club may get only one opportunity to sign the Brazilian playmaker.
While Cook and Pearce seek to smooth the way for Kaka's move to Eastlands, City are hopeful of completing the signing of the Hamburg midfielder Nigel de Jong and recruiting Craig Bellamy from West Ham United in a £15m straight-cash deal before the end of the week. Tottenham have also been pursuing Bellamy but their manager, Harry Redknapp, all but accepted defeat last night in his pursuit of the striker.
"Man City are involved and once Man City are involved the rest of us have got no chance – they outbid and outpay," he said. "I haven't given up but it's gonna be difficult ... I don't think we'll get him."
De Jong and Bellamy could cost City a combined total of about £30m but it is the potential arrival of Kaka, for more than triple that sum, which is captivating the world of football. The 26-year-old's response at the final whistle at San Siro on Saturday, when he embraced team-mates and applauded the club's supporters, could have been interpreted as a sign that he was making a valedictory appearance but the player has yet to agree to join City and Hughes has predicted complex contract negotiations.
Personal terms will present no problem, with a salary in the region of £500,000 a week believed to be on the table, but Kaka is expected to seek assurances on City's short- and long-term plans before agreeing to leave Milan. Hughes will not be involved in initial talks, as he is taking the City squad for a mid-season break, but he believes there is a one-off window of opportunity that has to be seized.
"It may be that, in the future, a deal to bring Kaka to Manchester City will never present itself again so, when it does, you have to follow it through," he said. "You have to react quickly when the opportunity comes to acquire a player of that standard. You can't hang about and think, 'We'll wait until the next window.'"
Hughes is likely to be alluding to Milan's willingness to sell, a stance that has prompted severe criticism from the club's fans, many of whom protested during Saturday's victory over Fiorentina. Hughes indicated that he was aware Milan were "receptive to an offer" some time ago and it appears that the Italian club have found City's bid impossible to turn down. "We couldn't not think about this during the world crisis," said Adriano Galliani, Milan's vice-president.
City's representatives will need to convince Kaka and his father that the Premier League club is capable of delivering on its promises, namely to assemble one of the most exciting teams in world football, although Hughes also expects the player to appreciate that the project will require time. "If a player such as Kaka understands and wants to be part of it, then it will be a long-term commitment," he said. "It's not going to happen overnight."
Milan have said the same about a decision regarding Kaka's future, with Galliani claiming there is little chance anything will be agreed at the end of today. "It will not be like the Normandy landings," he said. "We will consider things and take a decision together. Nobody has signed anything – not the club nor the player. He is still a Milan player, we are just evaluating and considering. There is no D-Day."