Rivaldo to move on from Milan

Rivaldo has been released from his contract with Milan, the European champions, and says he is weighing up offers from English clubs.

Milan said in a statement that the 2002 World Cup winner with Brazil had asked to be freed from his deal, which ran until July 2005. He is now free to find a new club without the obstacle of a transfer fee, although he will not be able to move until the transfer window opens in January and he is not eligible to play in the Champions' League.

"There are some possibilities in England, but I will evaluate them carefully and in a composed manner," Rivaldo said. The 31-year-old has not featured in Serie A or the Champions' League this season and said: "I couldn't cope any longer with the idea of having so little possibility of playing."

He added that the opening game of the season was the moment when he knew it was time to move on. "I understood at Ancona, where I was left on the bench for the whole game," he said. "If you don't play in games like that, I thought, then you will never play in the big matches. It was also a personal decision."

The forward, part Brazil's World Cup-winning team in Japan and South Korea last year, joined Milan from Barcelona on a free transfer at the start of last season but has struggled to make an impact. He watched Milan's victory in the Champions' League final against Juventus in May from the substitutes' bench at Old Trafford.