ROME - Vice president Adriano Galliani admitted yesterday that AC Milan's bid to lure Ronaldinho to Italy was far from a done deal.

ROME - Vice president Adriano Galliani admitted yesterday that AC Milan's bid to lure Ronaldinho to Italy was far from a done deal.

Following Milan's 5-1 thrashing of Reggina on Sunday, Galliani claimed that Milan had failed to agree a fee for Ronaldinho with his Spanish club, Barcelona.

The news comes just over a week after Galliani had boasted that were Ronaldinho to move from the Catalan giants, it would be to Milan, but he has now backtracked.

"I don't know if a deal will be done," said Galliani. "We have to operate within the framework of market conditions. If it happens, great, if not we'll change our objectives."

It is widely known that Milan's offer for Ronaldinho is a long way below Barca's valuation.

There are other teams, such as Chelsea and Inter Milan, who are interested in the former double world player of the year and who can offer more money than Milan.

While Milan have close contacts with Ronaldinho's brother and agent Roberto de Assis, they seemingly are not on such good terms with the Spanish giants.

"I've never said that we are close to Barcelona. It's one thing to be close to Ronaldinho, quite another to be close to the club," added Galliani.

"There are other teams as well as Inter that are interested in Ronaldinho. I've been dipping into the market for many years and there's nothing strange here.

"If Barcelona accept our offer we'll do a deal, if not we won't." - Sapa-AFP