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AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi has spoken of his regret at being forced to neglect the club in recent years, saying they would not be where they are now had he been able to devote enough time to them. Berlusconi, who turns 80 on Thursday, is in the process of selling his majority holding in the Rossoneri to a group of Chinese investors. The end of an over 30-year ownership is due to be complete by the end of the year. He relinquishes control of the club at the lowest ebb in his leadership, with Milan failing to qualify for Europe for three straight seasons. That, he told Italy's Chi magazine, is his one and only regret. "If in recent years Milan have not been how they used to be, then it is only because I have not had more time to devote to them personally," he said. "I was working at least three afternoons a week for years, preparing 3,600 hearings and 73 political processes which I had to go through with my solicitors. "I'm still the president of the club who have won more than anybody else in the history of football. My one regret is not having been able to work on Milan the way I would have wanted to." Berlusconi recently suffered a heart condition which convinced him that the time had come, after years of negotiations, to sell his stake in Milan and take a step back. "I never thought about my age in my life, in fact I always lived like I was 40 because that is how I felt -- full of curiosity, of will and determination," he said. "Then, suddenly, this illness arrived and with the operation I had, it became perfectly clear to me that I am an 80-year-old man."
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