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The atmosphere among Milan's fans had a boiling intensity when Manchester City touched down in Milan on Monday but the atmosphere at the downtown solicitors' office where they sat down to talk business was chilly to say the least.
The discussions began at 4pm and ran for seven hours but refreshments did not stretch beyond a cup of coffee and there was a clue, from the fans audibly chanting Kaka's name on the street outside, as to why Bosco Leite, Kaka's father and agent, was less welcoming than City had hoped he would be. "They gave us a cup of coffee so it would be unfair to say there was no welcome," City's executive chairman, Garry Cook, reflected yesterday. "But it was evident the hospitality wasn't the finest. We heard the noise [of the fans] and that's obviously somewhat distracting. The dynamics of it were strange, very unnerving. It wasn't a place we would want to be in."
City were only there because of the encouraging noises they had been getting from Milan for over a month. Cook still has the fax, sent by Milan's vice-president Adriano Galliani on 15 December, demanding €200m (£180m) for Kaka, which prompted Cook to ask wryly at the time were Milan "talking in lira?" But last week Milan went public on the City talks, with the club's president, Silvio Berlusconi, apparently intent on gauging from the fans' response whether public opinion would allow him to take the Arab millions he badly needed or, failing that, to present himself as the man who rode to the rescue.
The levels of opposition spoke volumes. Cook said yesterday that Galliani had revealed to him during a private discussion preliminary to the full negotiations on Monday afternoon how that resistance, which rose to a groundswell at Milan's 1-0 win over Fiorentina on Saturday, was affecting him. "He told me his life had changed," Cook said. "He had had to move his office, being at the game at the weekend was threatening to him and he wanted to get this thing closed as quickly as possible. There was clearly political pressure and supporter pressure. You could feel it." This was the same Galliani who, a week ago, had been prepared to let City – with their big ideas of selling Kaka's image rights across the globe to recoup the £91m they were planning to pay Milan, probably over five years – take their best player.
Cook's six-man delegation, including lawyers with expertise in intellectual property rights, had headed to Italy with high hopes. They knew they needed to sell their image rights ideas to Leite before they would manage to meet and convince Kaka himself. But that seemed unlikely from the moment they sat down. Attempting to establish whether Kaka's current deal with Adidas left any room for City to tie up image rights deals of their own and earn a return on their £91m investment, the club met a wall of resistance from Leite.
City told Leite of their ideas for a Kaka Foundation, through which his image would make money for a "humanitarian" cause. There was talk of lucrative digital TV and internet image rights deals. Privately, City were astonished that Kaka's current entire image rights income is believed to be €8m (£7.4m). In Cook's previous role with Nike, he was responsible for the international image rights of the basketball player Michael Jordan. They earn him $12m (£8.6m) a year for his signature alone. Football clubs have not touched the surface of such commercial opportunities.
But Leite would only talk about the player's personal terms. "They didn't want to get to the complexities and the sophistication," Cook said. "They just wanted an offer in cash terms." A brooding presence as the talks foundered was Galliani, in a side room nearby.
Getting nowhere as Monday night drew on, City suggested a period of reflection and shook on a plan to meet again in Milan today. Leite's desperation for a quick deal then led City to agree to bring that date forward 24 hours. A new day, they seem to have figured, offered hope of a change of heart. But after Cook and his delegation had left, the Italians decided they could not wait – and run the risk of City embarrassing them by unilaterally calling talks off. Cook was in the departure lounge of Milan's Linate Airport At 11.03pm, Italian time, when he received a phone call from Alberto Zilani, Leite's translator. "We want a cash offer now," Zilani said. Resigned to the fact that the deal was going nowhere, Cook called it off and both clubs formally announced the fact.
Cue Berlusconi. It was at 11.11pm, by City's reckoning, that the Italian Prime Minister telephoned the first of two football programmes – Il Processo di Biscardi – on the regional channel, to announce that the deal was dead. Once again, his genius for using the media to seize the initiative, set the agenda, suggest the editorial line for newsrooms around the peninsular and, in doing so, to emerge from unfavourable situations as a hero, had come to the fore.
While admitting that the decision to reject City's world record bid was the player's, the Italian Prime Minister knew that by being the bearer of the good news, he was likely – subliminally, at least – to be perceived as the man responsible for it.
It worked. The front-page headline in yesterday's Gazzetta dello Sport said: "Silvio: Kaka is staying. Berlusconi's announcement." Corriere della Sera also chose to present the news as an announcement of Milan's owner: "Berlusconi: Kaka is staying at Milan. For him money isn't everything." Another daily, La Repubblica, usually a fierce critic of Berlusconi on political matters, weighed in with: "Berlusconi guards Kaka."
City's delegation awoke to rather different headlines in Britain. Theirs might have been a ground-breaking proposition, ahead of its time, but Milan politics and the might of Berlusconi have prevailed and their big football project is back to square one.
Brazil nuts: How Manchester City's move for Kaka was KO'd
September 2008 New Manchester City owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group, express interest in signing Kaka. City fans chant the midfielder's name. Kaka dispels rumours, pledging his loyalty to Milan.
November Amid rumours of a £100m joint bid for Gianluigi Buffon and Kaka, Robinho urges Kaka to join him at Eastlands. Kaka admits to being flattered by the interest.
13 January 2009 Executive chairman Garry Cook travels to Milan to discuss a world record £100m bid.
14 January Milan confirm discussions with Manchester City are 'ongoing'.
16 January Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti speaks of his desire to hold on to the Brazilian.
17 January Kaka plays in win over Fiorentina, with emotional scenes of celebration at the end of the match. Fans demonstrate during the game.
18 January La Liga champions Real Madrid express an interest in the midfielder, casting doubt over Manchester City's chances.
19 January Fans protest outside Kaka's house. Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi announces on Italian TV that Kaka has turned down the move. Cook accuses Milan of 'bottling it'.
