Manchester City have the potential to become a genuine footballing superpower in Europe, according to AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi.
The Italian prime minister backed the club to find rich success domestically and on a wider scale in the near future, despite having missed out on luring Kaka away from the San Siro.
"The new owner of Manchester City (Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nayan) is doing a great job in constructing a competitive team that will have a starring role in the Premier League and at European level," he told Italian sports newspaper Quotidiano Sportivo.
"They are investing generously and he will make Manchester City, a team currently not well known in Italy but with strong traditions, one of the starring teams in European football in the coming years.
"I hope he succeeds because he deserves it."
Berlusconi admitted his club were surprised by the offer from City for their top player.
"Certainly Milan would not spend that sum of money, and would neither pay those kind of salaries. I realise that people could be bewildered hearing about certain sums of money considering the difficult financial situation," he said.
"Had Kaka felt that his professional and financial future would be in Manchester, we would have respected his decision. But we are all happy that it has not turned out like this.
"We allowed Kaka freedom to decide his future as we are accustomed to do. Milan does not hold a player against his will and proof of this is Andriy Shevchenko's departure two years ago."
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