AC Milan have welcomed Brazilian striker Luiz Adriano back to the club after his move to Chinese side Jiangsu broke down after a reported contract dispute.

Adriano, whose return to Milan could end Stephan El Shaarawy's hopes of returning to the Serie A giants from Monaco, was due to sign for Jiangsu in midweek.

Reports on Thursday suggested the Brazilian forward reneged on the deal after discovering a sizeable part of his salary would come from the sale of his image rights.

However it was also reported Jiangsu did not agree to all of Adriano's personal terms.

Adriano returned to Milan on Wednesday and did not look too displeased, posting a picture of himself smiling on his Instagram account.

Gazzetta dello Sport said Adriano, who signed for Milan in the summer from Shakhtar Donetsk, will continue to train with Sinisa Mihajlovic's side but remains surplus to requirements.

Mihajlovic has recently favoured the attacking duo of M'Baye Niang and Carlos Bacca, and Mario Balotelli is set to return from a lengthy injury lay-off having played 10 minutes in Sunday's 2-0 home win over Fiorentina.

French attacking midfielder Jeremey Menez is also on his way back and winger Alessio Cerci and now Kevin-Prince Boateng, who signed a six-month loan deal with the club this month, are also waiting in the wings.

Adriano's return could scupper the club's bid to bring El Shaarawy back from Monaco, where the Italian international is in limbo.

Monaco took the 23-year-old winger on a season-long loan deal but with the obligation to buy him outright if El Shaarawy played 25 games.

Prior to the January transfer window, El Shaarawy had played 24 games for the French side.

Milan sit in sixth place in Serie A, 12 points behind leaders Napoli.