Galliani: Ronaldinho has rejected City

2:33pm Sunday 6th July 2008

AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani claims Barcelona playmaker Ronaldinho has rejected a lucrative offer from Manchester City, despite the English club offering twice what Milan can.

Milan and City have both vigorously pursued the signature of Ronaldinho this summer and the player himself has said publicly that he would prefer a move to Milan or even Chelsea.

"Ronaldinho has rejected the offer of Manchester City despite them offering twice as much as we can," Galliani told Italian newspaper La Stampa.

Galliani added that the main stumbling block in any deal to bring him to Milan would be Ronaldinho's wages, not the transfer fee.

"He is not in the plans of (Barcelona coach Pep) Guardiola, so he has a more favourable price," he said. "But the problem is the wages. For us to be able to afford him the transfer fee would have to be close to nothing."

Galliani has raised the possibility of signing the 28-year-old on loan in order to make the deal more affordable, but admitted: "It depends on Barcelona."

Milan have hinted at financial problems this summer, repeatedly stating that they can only afford to make one major signing and that they are unable to compete with major clubs in England and Spain for the top players.

However, they have resisted any urge to sell players, despite what Galliani described as an "astronomical offer" from Chelsea for Kaka.

"An astronomical offer came in from Chelsea for Kaka, and (Andrea) Pirlo has received more than one request," he said. "But by the way, neither Andrea nor his agent have ever come to us asking for more money."

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