Rivaldo had just starred in Brazil's World Cup win in 2002 and few would have argued with Maldini's view that he merited being placed in the same category as Marco van Basten, Gianni Rivera or Ruud Gullit.

But after leaving the club by mutual consent on Friday after barely making an impact, the Brazilian is more likely to find his place in Milan's history books alongside French striker Jean Pierre Papin in the category marked 'great player who wasn't needed'.

By the end of his time in Italy, Rivaldo was like the Ferraris owned by his teammates -- classy and expensive but only ever seen at the training ground.

Milan had signed Rivaldo on a free transfer after he had cancelled his contract with Barcelona and the deal was cited as a sign of the club's ambition to return to the summit of the European game.

But right from the outset of his time at Milan it was clear that the club's coach Carlo Ancelotti considered him an optional extra and not a key component of the team.

Rivaldo featured in the early stages of the campaign but only because Andriy Shevchenko was injured and Ancelotti opted to play Filippo Inzaghi as a lone striker with Rivaldo and Rui Costa in support.

The Brazilian showed flashes of his undoubted ability but never more than flashes.

There were few of the spectacular long-range strikes that were his trademark at Barcelona and he found it hard to adapt to the closer marking and limited space in Italian football.

When Shevchenko returned to fitness Rivaldo was no longer a first choice player and niggling injuries reduced his chances even when there was an opening.

Milan went on to win the Champions League last season but Rivaldo watched the victory on penalties over Juventus in May from the substitutes bench at Old Trafford.

In a game crying out for some of the inspiration and imagination top Brazilians are famed for, Ancelotti banked instead on the occasional brilliance of speedy winger Serginho.

As if that wasn't a big enough snub for Rivaldo, in the opening Serie A game of this season 21-year-old Kaka, a summer signing from Brazilian club Sao Paulo, was handed a debut as Rivaldo was left on the sidelines again.

That was the moment when the World Cup winner realised there was no future for him at Milan.

"I understood at Ancona, where I was left on the bench for the whole game. If you don't play in games like that, I thought, then you will never play in the big matches," he said on Friday.

A few weeks later Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani responded to rumours of Rivaldo's discontent by saying that, while the Brazilian was welcome to stick around, Milan would not stand in his way if he wanted to leave.

It was hardly a vote of confidence or an attempt to motivate a player who was costing the club a reported 4.5 million dollars in annual wages.

With Rui Costa and the highly promising Kaka both vying for the creator's role behind Inzaghi and Shevchenko, Rivaldo had become little more than a hefty item on the payroll.

Given the backing of Milan's owner, Italian Prime Minister and billionaire businessman Silvio Berlusconi, the wages could be covered.

But when Rivaldo spoke to Brazilian newspapers about his "humiliation" and suggested Ancelotti had an unspecified ulterior motive for leaving him out then the prospect of dressing room discord emerged.

A meeting on Thursday between Ancelotti and Rivaldo was said to have cleared the air, but in fact it left the Brazilian deciding he needing some fresh air.

Now it is only a question of whether Rivaldo's future is a return to the heat of Spain or the fresh challenge of the colder breezes of England's Premier League.