Gattuso asks Berlusconi for more signings

Milan stalwart Gennaro Gattuso has pleaded with club president Silvio Berlusconi, the Italy Prime Minister, to splash the cash in a bid to boost the team's chances of landing silverware next season.

Milan have sold Brazilian star Kaka to Real Madrid this summer while defensive lynchpin Paolo Maldini has retired and former England captain David Beckham has returned to Los Angeles Galaxy.

With Andriy Shevchenko also leaving the club, it has left Milan looking decidedly weaker than a year ago, despite the signings of centre-backs Thiago Silva and Oguchi Onyewu.

Milan had been interested in buying Sevilla's Brazil forward Luis Fabiano but they pulled out of that deal because they refused to meet the Spaniards' asking price.

But Gattuso believes Milan need three more players to challenge for the top honours.

"I hope the president will give us a present," he told SkySport. "We're competitive but we lack something.

"We're not going to get overrun but with two or three additions we could do great things.

"I know that we've got to balance the books but until the end of the transfer window I'll keep hoping."

Milan's pre-season campaign has not begun well, losing matches against Club America, Chelsea and bitter city rivals Inter on Sunday in the United States.

But Gattuso is not worried by that.

"We've been unlucky, sometimes it's the little things that decide matches," he said.

"When you wear the Milan shirt you never want to lose but right now the results aren't important so we're hoping to get our bad luck out of the way now and not later.

"We're happy with what we're doing, we're on the right path."