Gaucci is determined to have a woman in his team for next year and spent months trying to persuade Victoria Svensson and Hanna Ljungberg to take up the challenge.

But the pair, both strikers for Sweden's national women's team, spurned his advances saying they could not compete with the likes of Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta.

Gaucci, however, refused to give up his search and is confident he can lure German World Cup winner Birgit Prinz to Italy following the collapse of the Womens League in America (WUSA) where she has been playing.

"We've already met with Birgit Prinz in Rome last week and she wanted a few days to think things over," he said. "Next week we will try and work out the final details.

"I saw that she has real enthusiasm for this adventure and I hope she will train with the Perugia squad before Christmas so she can take to the field in January."

Perugia made headlines in June by signing Libyan international Saadi Kadhafi on a one-year contract. The son of Libyan leader Moamer, Saadi Kadhafi tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone last month.

The Umbrian club also hired disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson to take charge of pre-season training. Johnson was stripped of his 100 metres gold medal for testing positive for the steroid stanolozol at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.