"It is very difficult to ask a player who has been offered so much to remain and fulfil a contract. You should have a hand with his conscience.
“I want to behave with Kaka like a big brother, as I did with Sheva. I could not say 'no' when he was offered to go to Chelsea.
"You cannot increase salaries at all as you should do to keep Kaka. You cannot say 'no' to a boy whose career is not for life and the outlook for revenue is much higher than those at this time.
"In addition, we cannot increase the salary, which is already high, because we would have to increase it for all the players.
"In any case, I hope Kaka stays."
I’m not about to suggest Kaka wouldn’t like to be paid a lot of money every week – the wages said to be on offer seem to suggest he would – but it's completely unacceptable for Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi to imply that this deal is edging closer because the player wants more money.
His decision to join Manchester City – assuming that is his eventual decision – appears to be based on Milan’s desire for money rather than his own.
"For as long as my goals are the same as Milan's and they don't want to sell me, I'll remain a Milan player," Kaka said this week.
"If one day they want to sell me then it's a different story."
In his statement, Berlusconi implied that:
a) Milan can’t keep Kaka because he wants a payrise
b) Milan are doing Kaka a favour by selling him
c) Milan supporters shouldn’t be angry at Berlusconi and the club’s hierarchy, because they’re magnanimously allowing their best player to go and make some money
Kaka, of course, could refuse to join Manchester City.
But his club has reported debts of around £28 million and, while Kaka is certainly one of the world’s best players, the idea that he’s worth over £100 million is ridiculous. As Milan general manager Adriano Galliani has already admitted, the offer is extremely high in the middle of a credit crunch and, well, “there are debts and they have to be paid”.
The general consensus seems to be that Kaka wants to test himself in The Premier League and would like a significant wage – in part, at least, because he makes some significant contributions to the church.
But for Berlusconi to try to shift the anger of his own supporters onto the player because he’s willing to leave a club he loves is an insult to a loyal servant and club legend.
There are many more mercenary figures in football. If he does 'decide' to leave, Kaka should be able to walk out of Milan with his head held high.