Kaka reveals he rejected Manchester City in January 2009 because “it was safer to stay at Milan”.
The Brazilian was believed to be on the verge of moving to the Etihad, with the English club’s chief executive, Garry Cook, famously saying the Rossoneri “bottled it”.
The midfielder moved to Real Madrid that summer for a world record fee, and he has revealed the truth behind his aborted City move.
“Negotiations went very far indeed,” Kaka said in the November issue of FourFourTwo magazine.
Kaka reveals he rejected Manchester City in January 2009 because “it was safer to stay at Milan”.
The Brazilian was believed to be on the verge of moving to the Etihad, with the English club’s chief executive, Garry Cook, famously saying the Rossoneri “bottled it”.
The midfielder moved to Real Madrid that summer for a world record fee, and he has revealed the truth behind his aborted City move.
“Negotiations went very far indeed,” Kaka said in the November issue of FourFourTwo magazine.
“It came to the point where all of the numbers and the finer details had been discussed. The wages I had been offered were much, much higher than what I was earning with Milan.
“I found myself wondering what my life playing in England would be like, what my routine at this new club would be, how difficult it would be for my kids and my wife to move home.
“All of these thoughts were swirling inside my head.
“I’d absolutely no idea that City were interested in signing me until they’d actually made their official offer to Milan.
“I came to the conclusion that it was not quite the right time for me to go to City, and the main reason was the uncertainty over the squad-building process.
“It wasn’t clear to me how the squad would be reshaped and I wasn’t convinced it would work.
“I was being asked to swap one of the most historic and successful clubs in Europe for a team who were only at the beginning of a new project, where I was supposed to be the first big player.
“It was safer to stay at Milan.”