Transfer News : Man City launch world record bid for Kaka

Manchester City have opened talks with AC Milan over signing Brazil's playmaker Kaka for a fee that could rise as high as £100 million.

The Eastlands club have sent a delegation, thought to include chief executive Garry Cook and chief operating officer Paul Aldridge, to discuss a possible move with both the Italian side and the player, who could stand to earn a staggering £15 million a year net or £500,000 a week gross.

While City's Arab owners harbour hopes of completing any possible deal before the transfer window closes at the end of this month, sources inside the club believe the move is more likely to go through in the summer.

That view was reinforced on Tuesday when Milan's owner, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said he knew nothing of the transfer and revealed that he regards the Brazilian to be untransferable.

He said: "I know nothing about a Manchester City offer for Kaka. I think he's not transferable and given that is the case, he will stay at Milan."

The Italian club's director Adriano Galliani has already indicated that his side, for whom David Beckham made his league debut on Monday against Roma, have finished their activity in the January transfer window, but the Eastlands negotiators will be hoping to open up the possibility of a summer move instead.

If City's mission proves fruitless, either in the short or long term, it will lend the transfer window an even deeper air of anticlimax for the club. telegraph