Dave Whelan believes Manchester City would "ruin the heart and soul of football" if they signed Kaka for £100million.

City reportedly approached AC Milan over a possible move for the Brazil playmaker, with a nine-figure fee rumoured to be on the cards, although the player later said he wants to "grow old" with the Rossoneri.

Wigan chairman Whelan, who is facing a battle to keep stars including Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki with the Latics, believes the sums of money mooted are bad news for the sport.

"If this kind of deal is the kind of deal which is about to take place it will ruin the heart and soul of football," he told Sky Sports News.

City have already flexed their recently acquired financial muscles by spending £32.5m of new owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's money on Robinho on the last day of the summer transfer window.

And Whelan added: "If some Arabian fellas or oil-rich sheikhs come in and pay £90million for a player, that is totally barmy.

"If Manchester City come in and offer that I think the game will suffer in the end."