Manchester City are interested in Barcelona superstar Ronaldinho.

The Daily Mail says City owner Thaksin Shinawatra has been alerted by intermediaries to contact Barcelona and the player's representatives about a possible deal.

At this stage it remains highly unlikely that City will be able to pull off a deal that, under the club's current financial structure, would be some way out of their league.

However, sources in Italy revealed last night that AC Milan believe City's interest to be serious and are therefore increasing their own efforts to land the player.

The situation is clouded somewhat by the fact that even senior executives at City do not yet know how much money Thaksin is setting aside for former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson to spend on player recruitment this summer.