Kakagate: Cook - AC Bottled It

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Garry Cook opens up the fallout from the failed negotiations by blaming AC Milan's approach to the whole situation...

There's obviously more to this than meets the Blue eyes but one thing's for sure Cook and co have got a job on in attempting to disturb the established ranks of European football's elite...

The Executive Chairman told BBC 5 Live:

'The player was clearly for sale.

'We had entered into a confidentiality agreement weeks ago but, in my personal opinion, they [Milan] bottled it.

'We had gone through a three or four-stage process in which Milan made it quite clear Kaka was for sale and we made it clear we intended to bring him to Manchester City.

'As we got to the next stage there were questions they could not answer and I think the political and public pressure made them change their conditions.

'We never even met the player. We met his representative, his father, but we had discussed commercial terms only.

'The agenda we thought we were on was about Kaka coming on a journey with this club but at the end the only journey they were on was a fiscal one.

'We'll continue on our journey but he won't be a part of it. Deals with the greatest players are more than complex.

'It would have been great to have him with us but what got in the way was the behaviour of AC Milan and I think they bottled it.

'We got to talk to Kaka's father. His father said he was very interested in the project and we talked about humanitarian potential factors but when we got into discussions those issues took a back seat and financial demands came to the fore.'

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