Let's Sheik on it: Kaka to meet Mansour as Milan accept City’s £100m for Brazil star
Kaka wishes to meet the man behind the £100million cash bid to take him to Manchester City before deciding on his future.
As AC Milan accepted City's offer, sources at City insist he will sit down with Sheik Mansour and give the Abu Dhabi billionaire and his employees at Eastlands the chance to persuade Kaka to move to the Premier League.
It may even involve a reception at the Sheik's £8billion Royal Palace.
Though the Brazilian superstar was quick to express his desire to remain at the San Siro yesterday, insisting he would like 'to grow old in Milan', his club are keen on the transfer and on Wednesday night they were waiting for Kaka's father and chief adviser, Bosco, to return from a holiday in Brazil for talks.
City remain confident that the astonishing deal will go ahead and suggest Kaka may be in their team for the home league game against Newcastle on January 28.
The club have already been in regular contact with Kaka's father, having recognised from the outset that he has been very influential at every stage of his son's career. Meanwhile, City's current superstar Robinho has been in regular phone contact with his compatriot and has told manager Mark Hughes that Kaka is ready to come to Manchester.
City have been told that Kaka's sceptical comments on Wednesday were made in order to buy the player time.
Having been sold on the idea by Sheik Mansour and his chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Hughes has indicated he would play Kaka in a central role alongside Stephen Ireland, with Robinho on the left and Shaun Wright- Phillips on the right.
Hughes also believes Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz and West Ham's Craig Bellamy will be at the club in time for the Newcastle game and may even arrive before Saturday's crucial clash with Wigan - this despite West Ham's rejection of an improved £10m offer for Bellamy because they value him at £15m.
When Adriano Galliani, Milan's chief executive, meets Kaka Snr he will tell him the Serie A club have accepted City's offer for his son and that they are happy for the transfer to proceed.
Sheikh Mansour is set to meet with AC Milan superstar Kaka.
Already there has been talk in Italy of the demands Kaka would make of his suitors. He wants to meet Sheik Mansour to satisfy himself that his potential new employer is committed to making City the biggest football club in the world, while also insisting on an escape clause if they fail to secure Champions League football within two years.
City will be encouraged by the 26-year-old's stance but they may still need to be at their persuasive best to secure the services of the 2007 World Player of the Year.
In an interview with the website owned by Milan owner and Italy prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Kaka said: 'I want to grow old at Milan. My aim is to become at some point the captain of this team.'
Kaka's spokesman, Diogo Kotscho, failed to offer City much encouragement in an interview with an Italian newspaper. 'Kaka wouldn't do anything based on money,' he said. 'He would never do something like Robinho, who, just to earn more, contented himself with a solution that was not a winning one.'
But in an interview he then gave to Sky, Kotscho was more positive, saying: 'We now have to wait for negotiations between the two clubs. If that happens, it is not about money.
'If Manchester City are to become one of the top teams in the world they have to have a project to be the best. At this time we can negotiate to join them.
'If they have a good project, and can get other players, to become one of the top teams in the world - like AC Milan are - then we can negotiate.
Kaka, really not for the money?
'Kaka wants a professional challenge, he wants to play in the UEFA Champions League and he wants to become the best player in the world again.
'The Premier League is one of the best and he wants to play there. I don't know if it will be at this time or not. It is not impossible, but it will be difficult to reach a deal with AC Milan.'
The deal was condemned by some leading figures in football. Sir Bobby Robson has labelled City's offer as 'ludicrous' and warned that it could 'cripple football'.
'I am absolutely shocked by this, it is an unbelievable figure,' said Robson. 'It is absolutely ludicrous because nobody is worth that amount of money, no matter what he does.
'I think bids like this will cripple football because it will carry on pushing the price of players up all over the world and there is not enough money in the game to cope with that.'
The sentiment was echoed by former City manager Joe Royle, who questioned the morality of the potential deal. 'It's an incredible amount of money and you have to question the morality of it when the world is in a cash crisis,' he said.
