Abu Dhabi withdraws $150mn bid for AC Milan's Kaka

DEAL OFF: Man City has withdrawn its $150 million bid for Brazilian ace Kaka. (AFP)

Manchester City has withdrawn its world record $150 million bid to sign Brazilian superstar Kaka, according to a senior source close to the club’s owners.

The Abu Dhabi-owned club tabled the bid earlier this week, with Kaka, currently playing for AC Milan, saying he wanted to stay at the Italian club until he retired from the game.

It had been expected that further talks with his representatives would take place on Thursday.

But the well-placed source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Arabian Business: “The deal is off, and the offer is no longer on the table. The club is now pursuing another striker which it is very close to signing. Manchester City is about to unveil a new striker, but he is not called Kaka.”

It is understood the new striker being pursued by the club also plays in Italy, though is described as “not in the Kaka league”.

Kaka had been offered a world record $731,000 a week salary to join Manchester City.

Reports in the UK suggested that although the 26-year-old had rejected the move, his Italian club may be willing to negotiate a transfer given the vast sums involved – and that detailed clauses to facilitate the move were still being ironed out between the two clubs.

Some pundits believe AC Milan may be holding out for an even bigger transfer fee.

However, the source told Arabian Business: “They won’t be getting any money from Manchester City; the club is now talking to someone else and the offer is not there anymore.”

Asked whether there were any circumstances under which Kaka could still end up at Manchester City, the source said: “For that to happen AC Milan would have to come forward and say they want to sell the player.”

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READERS' COMMENTS

RESPONSE TO TOM SMITH
Posted by Me on Friday 16 January 2009 at 16:34 UAE time


If you had some intelligence, you would see that Mark Hughes was referring to the source of the story, not the website. But obviously that's too difficult for you to understand.

Striker
Posted by ajay, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 15 January 2009 at 17:23 UAE time

What a dreadful piece of reporting! Kaka is not even a striker and all other reports from real news agencies and the club itself say the deal is still ongoing!

More rubbish.
Posted by will mcfc, kuwait on Thursday 15 January 2009 at 16:49 UAE time


The above article is untrue as the kaka deal very much still alive.

Milan considering accepting the offer and if they do kaka will join gods own club. And manchester city forget ronaldo will have the worlds best player.

anil bhoyrul...reliable?
Posted by Tom Smith, London, England on Thursday 15 January 2009 at 16:07 UAE time


I won't go into the City Slickers scandal. But this is what Mark Hughes has just said about arabianbusiness.com:

“I’ve seen these reports but you have to bear in mind that the people who are being given a platform to speak do not represent the owner [Sheikh Mansour] or chairman [Khaldoon Al Mubarak].

“In my opinion they should not be given a platform to say what they have because in this instance it is completely untrue because negotiations are still taking place."

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