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By Alan Baldwin
PORTIMAO, Portugal, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Manchester City's reported offer of more than 100 million euros ($131 million) for AC Milan's Kaka is 'mad' and shows soccer needs a salary cap, Queens Park Rangers co-owner Flavio Briatore said on Monday.
The Italian, whose associates at English Championship (second division) club QPR include billionaires Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal, slammed the transfer bid at the launch of his Renault Formula One team's new car.
"If you had put (Ferrari's retired seven times world champion Michael) Schumacher in a Minardi, it would have gone nowhere," he said. "If you put Kaka in this club, it is going nowhere anyway.
"I think it is completely mad," he added of the attempt to lure the Brazilian playmaker.
"You saw when (Brazilian striker) Robinho arrived (at City) it looked like they had solved every problem. And now it looks like the team is very close to going down. It's like QPR last year," said Briatore.
"I think this is completely mad, for respect as well. You have the people in the grandstand who make 14,000 pounds ($20,290) a year. Seeing all this money go to one player for me is not moral at all.
"I believe again that in football we need to have a salary cap," said Briatore, a multi-millionaire whose business interests include a billionaire fashion range and exclusive nightclubs.
"Without this, we are going nowhere. I mean, when I arrive in my (club) parking lot it looks like the best (car) dealership in London. You see only Porsche, Ferrari and you have people finding it hard to pay the mortgage.
"The sport sometimes needs to give a good example to everybody," said Briatore.
"I hope that we arrive at the point where we have a salary cap for players, it is fundamental for the good of the sport."
City are now considered the richest club in the world after being bought by Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, whose wealth is estimated at 15 billion pounds.
The club, long overshadowed by local rivals Manchester United, are 11th in the 20-team Premier League but still only four points clear of bottom-placed West Bromwich Albion.
