AC Milan debt trouble could end Beckham plans

AC Milan may drop out of the chase to sign David Beckham next year due to mounting debts.

AC Milan have confirmed a debt of more than £20 million with chief executive Adriano Galliani concluding: "Football is very sick."

Galliani also admits Milan refused a £40 million offer from Real Madrid for Andriy Shevchenko which would have cleared their debt.

"We have a debt of 35 million euros," said Galliani today.

"It is a deficit I could have wiped out by selling Shevchenko to Real Madrid. Last year I met Real president Florentino Perez three times and three times he made me an enormous offer for Shevchenko which I always refused.

"If I had sold him we would celebrate having our books balanced but maybe I would not be here anymore," admitted Galliani.

Milan have been tracking Beckham's contract talks with Manchester United which remain unresolved.

Beckham wants a new deal with United but they have not yet settled on a new contract with the England captain free to move at the end of next year.

Milan have failed with two previous offers for Beckham but with the United star's transfer value currently at a peak of at least £45 million, the Italian giants may start to revise their transfer plans for next summer.

Milan and the other top Italian clubs have also been hit by problems for the two companies which won the cable television contract to present pay-per-view matches from last year. The two companies are struggling to make money and have applied to the Italian government to let them merge.