Both players have been linked with moves away from the San Siro, with Chelsea reportedly keen on Pato (pictured, right) and other rumours suggesting Ronaldinho (pictured, left) was keen on a move back to Brazil.

But Allegri paid tribute to both footballers at the same time as insisting that both need to contribute more for the upcoming campaign.

"There's no doubt about the technical quality of Ronaldinho," Allegri said of the 30-year-old. "He is an extraordinary player that has world class quality.

"But in today's football you need more than that.

"We need to construct a balanced group and the strength of a team is for all the players to work for the group in order to obtain a good result.

"Ronaldinho has so much quality that he can make a difference.

"The team needs to play for him but at the same time he needs to play for the team.

"He is a very important player and I expect a lot from him."

The former footballer of the year scored 12 goals in 36 league matches last season, with Pato netting 12 in 20 games despite being hindered by injury.

"Pato is 20 years old," said Allegri. "He is an extraordinary talent who has a lot of room for improvement.

"He has an incredible physical and technical quality that not even he knows about.

"But at 20, he needs to mature as a person even if from a football standpoint he is a phenomenon."

Eurosport