Former Manchester City CEO Garry Cook explains why Kaka didn’t join the club

Former Manchester City CEO Garry Cook explains why Kaka didn’t join the club
Former Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook has explained why Brazilian superstar Kaka did not join the club in 2009.After City were taken over bySheikh Mansour in 2008, the club set their sights on a number of high-profile signings.4

Manchester City tried to sign Kaka from AC Milan

Their first marquee signing saw Robinho join from Real Madrid in a 32.5million British record transfer deal (at the time).The Brazilian scored 12 goals in his first 19 games, but Citys new owners wanted more star names to come through the door in the 2009 January transfer window.AC Milans Kaka, who won the 2007 Ballon dOr, was their number one target.Cook told Sky Sports: “We sat down with AC Milan and we signed a document that sold the player to Manchester City, so we’d bought him.4

Robinho was Manchester City’s first marquee signing

“We sat down with him and his father and we discussed the terms, but it didn’t appear that he was aligned with where he wanted to go.“The whole story got played out in the media and Kaka was waving his AC Milan shirt out on his balcony and at that time you think we may have been used.“Publicly he’s said he wasn’t convinced and I think that’s a fair assessment.“I actually caught up with him at Robinho’s wedding in Sao Paolo and asked him why he didn’t come, and he said ‘I was at AC Milan and I had Manchester City, what would you do?’ and he’s right.”4

Garry Cook (right) with Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak (left) in 2010

Missing out on Kaka would not deter City, who spent big money on Carlos Tevez, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero in the forthcoming years.Those players helped the club end their 35-year trophy drought with a 1-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup final in 2011.Cook said: “That day changed the whole dynamics of what we were about.“Brian Kidd [City’s assistant manager] made one comment to me – ‘Garry, when you win the first one, that’s the catalyst that helps you win the rest.’ “I think that that FA Cup win is more symbolic than anything else that we’ve done in the last 10 years, only because of what it created and the way it changed the culture and the mentality of the club.”Cook engineered Sheikh Mansours takeover of City, which saw the Citizens become the richest club in the world.He added: “The deal was very quick, and actually if you look back at it now, it was somewhat professionally naive on both parties.“It was all a bit back of the napkin and a bit surreal really.4

Gary Cook brokered City’s takeover deal

“It was a one page document that said ‘We’re going to buy a football club and can you make sure we get a marquee player at the end of the window’.“The biggest challenge was getting people to come to Manchester City. It was very, very difficult to get people to sign for the club at the time.“During that week, we created a list of marquee players around the world and we tried to identify anyone we could bring to the football club because, if you don’t, the football club doesn’t get taken over.”

---

'I must have been depressed' - Discarded footballer warns of

---

VIDEO : Liverpool vs Barcelona - Match Review, Player Ratings, Highlights and Match stats. Anfield witnessed another memorable occasion of football as Liverpool overturned a 3-0 deficit to script a 4-0 win against Barcelona.

---

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur round-up: Dembele offers himself, Lamela on Inter and Barella to Liverpool. A selection of the latest news and gossip from Tottenham Hotspur.
Transfer news and rumours LIVE: Spurs to loan Bale for £10m

---

Jaap Stam hits back at David Moyes' comments on Man United not progressing David Moyes tells talkSPORT Manchester United star should be axed Man United have not progressed since I was

---

Championship 2019/2020: Bookmakers predict how next season's table will look Bookmakers are expecting Leeds to bounce back from promotion failure, with Marcelo Bielsa's men priced at 5/1 to end
Championship 2019/2020: Bookmakers predict how next season's

---

Spurs move ahead in the race to sign Sporting skipper Fernandes Tottenham are reportedly leading the chase to sign Sporting Lisbon captain Bruno Fernandes in a £62.5million swoop. ClubCall Share
Liverpool 'edge ahead of Tottenham and Man United' for Bruno

---

Ryan Mason will be in the dugout as Tottenham christen their new stadium with the test events over the coming days. Tottenham's Under-18s will host Southampton Under-18s in front over around
Latest News from the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust

---

Marcelo has revealed that Gareth Bale only speaks to his Real Madrid team-mates in English. Remarkably, the Wales star is yet to learn Spanish, despite being in his sixth season at the Bernabeu. 1
Gareth Bale only speaks English since he came to Spain

---

Portugal take on Switzerland in the first of the Nations League semi-final ties and it will be live on talkSPORT. The two sides won their respective groups in the inaugural season of the new tournament to reach this summer's finals.
Charlton vs Sunderland: Kick-off time, TV channel and details

---

Right now the two main candidates appear to be Juventus boss Max Allegri, and former captain Mikel Arteta. The former has a track record of success in Italian football, while the latter has yet to take charge of a club but has spent two years as assistant to Pep Guardiola at Man City.
Newport boss Flynn in WhatsApp group with Henry and Arteta

---

All Sport News (sunday_sunday) on Pinterest

---

Manchester United are ready to launch a world record £84million bid for Kalidou Koulibaly, according to reports. The Napoli centre-half has been linked with a move to Old Trafford since last year when Jose Mourinho was desperately trying to strengthen his defence.
Manchester United transfer news: Red Devils launch world
fifutures.com/manchester-united-transfer-news-red-devils-launch-world-record-84m-bid-for-kalidou-koulibaly-as-matthijs-de-ligt-alternative
Jun 8,2019 Comments Off on Manchester United transfer news: Red Devils launch world-record £84m bid for Kalidou Koulibaly as Matthijs De Ligt alternative fifutures, football, footballgossip, footballindex, footballindexbuzz, footballtransfers, mediabuzz, rumourmill, soccer, transferrumours
Red Devils launch world-record £84m bid for Kalidou Koulibaly

---

Mar 18, 2019 · If a Premier League team win the Champions League and finish outside the top four, and Arsenal or Chelsea win the Europa League and finish outside the top four, then only the top three will join them.
Manchester United news: How Solskjaer could miss out on

---

Manchester City host Schalke in the Champions League tonight for the second leg of their round of 16 tie. The Premier League side claimed a 3-2 comeback win against the Germans in their first encounter giving themselves a huge advantage. Leroy Sane's brilliant free-kick was decisive in the first leg.
manchester city schalke Bilder — BMB Fotos
bmbfotos.com/manchester-city-schalke/
Bilder der Welt — manchester city schalke Bilder. Manchester City could play second string side and still beat Schalke . Manchester City could play second string side and still beat Schalke in Champions League, says Lothar Matthaus.
Schalke are not Champions League standard and Man City will

---

Dean Saunders has blasted Manchester United star Paul Pogba for his recent 'showboating' celebrations, telling talkSPORT: "The top players don't do that". Pogba has looked a different player in his last few games for United since the departure of manager Jose Mourinho.
Man Utd news: 'Top players don't do what Paul Pogba did' - Ex

---