Milan "considering" £107m Kaka bid

AC Milan have confirmed for the first time that they are "considering" a bid from Manchester City for star player Ricardo Kaka, while the player's spokesman says his client has been "authorised" to talk to the Premier League club.

Milan's official television station revealed that the club are mulling over the offer - which first emerged on Tuesday after talks between the two clubs.

Officials from Manchester City met with their Milan counter-parts on Tuesday night, when they put their world-record breaking deal to the Rossoneri hierarchy.

Sky Sport Italia are reporting that City, the richest club in the world after being taken over by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's Abu Dhabi United Group, have a bid of around 120million euros (£107m) on the table.

"There's an offer for Kaka from Manchester City and it is being considered by Milan," Milan Channel director Mauro Suma announced this evening.

"'Considered' does not mean decided or accepted. We are not faced with a decision made or a done deed. There are still hours and days ahead."

A Milan spokesman then said Suma's comments were not an official statement by the club.

Kaka's spokesman Diogo Kotscho admitted that, although a deal was a long way away, the seven-time European champions had given them the green light to open talks.

"Milan has authorised the negotiation with Manchester City," he told the Associated Press news agency. "The next step now is that Kaka's father (Bosco Leite) will eventually talk to Manchester City," he added.

Earlier on Thursday, the manager of the English club Mark Hughes said the club's big-money offer for the playmaker makes football and business sense.

"The money involved is something we feel, from a football and business point of view, works," Hughes said. "The process has moved forward at a pace this week but people shouldn't be thinking that it is just a whim."

On Wednesday Kaka told the website of Mediaset, a TV company owned by Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi, he wanted to "grow old" at the San Siro.

"As long as the club keep high objectives, my desire will always be to stay at Milan," Kaka told Sport Mediaset. "I want to grow old here and my objective for the future is to become this team's captain."

Kaka joined Milan from Brazilian outfit Sao Paulo in 2003 and has since won the Serie A title, Champions League and the Club World Cup, and was awarded with the best player awards by UEFA and FIFA during 2007.

The attacking midfielder, who is under contract until 2013, has scored 86 goals in 244 appearances for Milan. He has also picked up 62 caps for Brazil and scored 23 goals.

The current world record for a player's transfer is £46m when France's Zinedine Zidane moved from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001.

Source: Various