However, manager Steve Kean damped down any expectations Rovers fans might have of an immediate marquee signing saying he did not expect anything to materialise before the transfer window ends at the end of the month.
Blackburn's bid to sign Beckham and Ronaldinho was widely viewed on Internet fan forums as audacious at best and a joke at worst, but the club and its new Indian owners are determined to pull off a transfer coup.
"He's been on a list with a number of other players but I don't think it will happen in this window," Kean told a news conference when asked about the plans to bring playmaker Riquelme to the small Lancashire mill town from Boca Juniors.
"If we bring somebody who is a landmark or marquee signing in that will probably be in the summer."
Riquelme, a creative Argentine midfielder who missed last year's World Cup but was a member of the team who reached the 2006 quarter-finals, signed a new four-year contract with Boca Juniors last August.
"When we try to bring somebody from... clubs of that size and they choose to come here over other clubs, that we can manage to pay their salaries and convince them that this is a place that is moving forward, I think that is fantastic for the club," said Kean.
