Notts County, the world's oldest football league club, said on Thursday that a Middle East consortium was taking them over in a multi-million pound deal. Notts, formed in 1862 but languishing in the lower reaches of the English League for many years, said on its website that Munto Finance Limited, owned by several Middle East based businessmen, had agreed to buy the club once the usual financial diligence checks had been made. Describing the deal as one worth “multi-millions” the club said in the statement: “The group wants complete control of the Magpies and has ambitious plans to restore the fortunes of the world's oldest football league club.” The club, which finished the recently ended season 19th in League Two (division four), would become the fourth in England to be taken over by Middle Eastern interests following Premier League Manchester City, and Portsmouth, where due diligence tests are starting before they are acquired by new Arab owners. Egyptian Mohamed Al-Fayed has also owned Premier League Fulham for 12 years. Despite being founder-members of the Football League in 1888, Notts County have had very little success. They won the FA Cup in 1894 but their best ever seasons in the top flight were third-placed finishes in 1891 and 1901. They last played in the top division in 1984. Kaka seems headed to Madrid AC Milan needs to sell Kaka to make up for huge financial losses, club president Silvio Berlusconi and chairman Adriano Galliani said. “Even Milan has had unthinkable balance sheets with losses of 50-60-million-euro per year,” said Berlusconi, who is also Italy's premier. “In these times we can't afford these losses.” Real Madrid has reportedly offered $92 million for Kaka and a five-year contract with an annual salary of $13.5 million. Real Madrid President Florentino Perez said he was determined to sign both Kaka and Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, but acknowledged a deal was far from concluded for Kaka. “The (date of the) presentation is not the problem. The problem is whether we're capable of getting him to play for Real Madrid, something we haven't been able to do so far,” Perez told Spain's Antena 3 television. Berlusconi told Telelombardia TV on Thursday that Milan wanted Kaka “but it also wants players who are completely sure they want to play for Milan. Kaka is an extraordinary kid but he still has a relatively short career and it's only right that he thinks about his (finances),” he said. “An increase to Kaka's salary would require an increase for everyone on the squad and Milan cannot permit that,” he added.
