England's leading clubs may be richer than ever before but they could still face a battle to hang on to their top players this summer, as under-performing clubs on the continent, particularly in Italy, are preparing to try to spend their way back to the big time.

AC Milan are the latest club to be linked with a move for Premiership talent, in this case David Beckham and Michael Owen, and what is certain is that they have money to burn.

Italian clubs are able to negotiate their own TV deals, while the Premiership sides have collective bargaining, and that hands big buying power to the top sides in Serie A.

Milan earned £53 million from their television deal with Tele+ last season, compared to the £11.7 million Manchester United brought in from the Sky/BBC deal.

And although United, the richest club in the world, have a bigger turnover (£117 million compared to Milan's £77 million in 1999/2000) Milan have no shareholders to satisfy and multi-millionaire president Silvio Berlusconi can spend what he likes on players.

With Milan currently seventh in Serie A, Berlusconi has made no secret of the fact that he is looking to bring in players.

The increasing wealth of the Premiership clubs is expected to be revealed in financial experts Deloitte & Touche's report "England's Premier Clubs", which is released tomorrow.

But Dan Jones, director of Deloitte & Touche Sport, believes big clubs on the continent can still have more financial muscle and will not be deterred by changes to the transfer system.

He said: "Manchester United's turnover may be greater than Milan's, but their wage bills are the same. United plc actually makes a healthy profit while Milan breaks even or makes a loss.

"The money is Berlusconi's to do with as he wishes. There are no shareholders.

"The new transfer system is to be ratified by UEFA in July, but there are likely to still be big transfer fees for stars, and even if they come down a bit, the money will just go into players' wages."