Manchester City are favourites to sign Barcelona forward Ronaldinho, according to the Spanish club's president.

City are locked in a battle with AC Milan for the Brazil star and reports state the English side have bid £25.5m.

"Ronaldinho and his agent have two interesting proposals and they are leaning more towards the one from City," Laporta told Catalunya Radio.

A Barca spokesman told BBC Sport they would discuss the 28-year-old's future with his agent later on Monday.

But he did not say whether Barca would meet representatives from either City or Milan.

However, BBC Sport understands that AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani is in Barcelona to attempt to convince Ronaldinho to choose the San Siro over the City of Manchester stadium.

The two-time Fifa World Player of the Year was not present on Monday morning to start pre-season fitness tests under new Barca coach Pep Guardiola, leading to speculation that talks about his future were set to take place with Milan.

His time at the Spanish giants effectively came to an end in June when Guardiola announced the playmaker was surplus to requirements.

Nevertheless, the Catalans were not prepared to release Ronaldinho to join Dunga's Brazil squad for next month's Beijing Olympics.

Ronaldinho helped the Nou Camp club win back-to-back Spanish league titles (2004-05, 2005-06) and the Champions League in 2006, but failed to cement a regular place in the starting XI last season because of injury and fitness issues.