AC Milan revealed on Thursday that they had received a ‘colossal' bid from Manchester City for Brazilian superstar Kaka and are considering the world-record offer. Milan acknowledged for the first time the bid on their official TV channel, claiming City had bid 150 million euros ($197.5 million) for the former World Player of the Year and offered him a salary of 15 million euros ($19.8 million) a season. “This is a delicate moment. There is an offer from Manchester City for Kaka and Milan are considering it,” said Milan TV presenter Mauro Suma. “Considering it doesn't mean there's been a decision or acceptance. This is not a definitive decision or a ‘fait accompli', there are hours and days ahead.” Earlier in the day there had been conflicting reports over the state of play of City's much reported world record bid for the 26-year-old. The club's assistant manager Mark Bowen had told the BBC that a deal was “very close”, but an Arabian business website insisted that talks had broken down. City manager Mark Hughes, however, was quick to dismiss those reports telling a press conference: “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). Kaka's spokesman also said the AC Milan player has been authorized to negotiate with Manchester City and will at least hear the English club's proposed contract. Diogo Kotscho told the AP Kaka's father and chief adviser, Bosco Leite, will likely travel to England shortly to see what the English club has to offer. Kotscho told the AP on Thursday that it was an “exaggeration” to say that Manchester City was near a deal with Kaka or that the player has already rejected the transfer. Kotscho said the meeting between City and Leite has not been scheduled. If the transfer goes through, it would smash the world's previous record, set in 2001 when Real Madrid signed Zinedine Zidane from Juventus for $65 million. Kaka's father could be key to the move going ahead with Kia Joorabchian, an agent representing City, reportedly trying to convince the player to join the club. “January is a really difficult window to negotiate in,” Hughes said. “If clubs don't want to sell their players there isn't a great deal we can do about it.” Kaka, FIFA's player of the year in 2007, has said he wants to remain at Milan but that the decision is up to the Serie A club. “For as long as my goals are the same as Milan's and they don't want to sell me, I'll remain a Milan player,” he said Wednesday. “If one day they (Milan) want to sell me, then it's a different story.”
