Italian 'paupers' cannot afford the likes of Ronaldinho laments Milan chief Galliani

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The Catalans announced yesterday they are to offload the Brazil World Cup winner - along with Deco and Samuel Eto'o - alerting Chelsea and their new boss Phil Scolari.

However, Manchester City had already reportedly offered Ronaldinho a staggering £200,000 a week, leaving Galliani lamenting the fact that Milan and other Italian clubs are being squeezed out of the market.

Counting the cash: Ronaldinho

And he said: "I cannot ignore that Italian football is now in fourth position in Europe behind England, Spain and Germany. "We simply cannot compete with certain figures anymore.

"Manchester City have offered the Brazilian (Ronaldinho) 12 million euros
(£9.5million) a year. We can only compete with that if they (Barcelona) give him
away for free."

City still hope to pull off the remarkable coup of landing the 28-year-old but they have a rival, with David Beckham's LA Galaxy making a bid worth around £25million-a year in salary - around £500,000 a week.

Even City, backed by ambitious owner Thaksin Shinawatra, would struggle to match that and with the club not able to offer him Champions League football, Deco has advised him to stay away from Manchester.

He said: "'With the greatest respect to Manchester City, I would not like to see Ronaldinho go there to play for them.

'I still consider Ronaldinho to be one of the best players in the world. He needs a huge team to express himself, one who play in and aim to win the Champions League.

'It would be very good for him to go to a really big club, a team with grand aspirations who will make him feel like he did at Barca. He needs that as a person as much as a player. I would like Ronnie to play with me for Chelsea."