Former Manchester City chief Garry Cook stands by slating AC Milan over the failed deal for Kaka.
Cook insists he was right to label AC Milan "bottlers" for reneging on a deal to sell Kaka to City five years ago.
He told the Sunday Mirror: "I received a lot of criticism for saying that AC Milan bottled it over Kaka - but there is no other way to describe it.
"I've still got the documentation that confirmed Milan had agreed to sell the player to us. In fact, I have got a picture where I am holding up a City shirt with Kaka on the back with Milan CEO Adriano Galliani. That's how far we had got.
"But it was clear they had underestimated how selling Kaka would upset the fans and when I went to negotiate with the player's father about terms, it was cleat something wasn't right. They started making the most outrageous demands. There was no way we could meet those terms and I remember asking what the hell was going on.
"When I saw television pictures of Kaka stood on a balcony waving a Milan shirt over his head, I knew it was time to get out of there."
Cook added: "My belief is that Berlusconi recognised a PR opportunity. Mr Berlusconi is a skilled politician and it seems that he saw a chance to make some political capital for himself with the people of Milan.
"Milan agreed to sell Kaka to us. When they saw the negative reaction of the fans, they went back on their word.
"I later saw Kaka at Robinho's wedding. He admitted that maybe he should have signed for City and that maybe we could try for him again. I told him that ship had sailed.
"I recently met Kaka again at a UFC event and this time he admitted that he deeply regretted not signing for City."
