Chelsea to bid 150 million euros for Kaka

Chelsea's billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich is set to obliterate the transfer world record with a 150 million euro (238 million dollar) bid for AC Milan's Kaka, according to Monday's Gazzetta dello Sport.

The daily sports newspaper claims Abramovich is ready to surpass even the 100 million euros Real Madrid are reportedly willing to pay in a bid to lure Cristiano Ronaldo away from Manchester United.

Gazzetta claim Chelsea's move for Kaka is tantamount to a 'mission impossible' but adds that Abramovich will not be deterred.

And according to Kaka's spokesman in Brazil Diogo Kotscho, the Brazilian would net 10 per cent of the world record transfer fee.

“The Kaka-Chelsea operation would benefit everyone involved,” said Kotscho. “For Kaka there would be 10 percent of the transfer fee – 15 million euros – as well as a new contract.”

Milan, though, are desperate to hold onto the current world player of the year as they look to win their first Serie A title since 2004.

They recently won the race – with Manchester City – to prise another Brazilian Ronaldinho from Barcelona and will be loath to lose their best player just after adding world class attacking reinforcements to their squad.

But now even Kaka seems to be warming to the idea of a switch to London, saying before leaving Sao Paulo to return to Milan: “These are two teams that want me – I don't know how things will finish.”

Kotscho, though, is pushing for the move claiming: “Chelsea is the right team (for Kaka). It's a team that wants to win everything.”

What may work in Chelsea's favour is that Milan will not play in this season's Champions League having finished only fifth in Serie A last season.

But Milan are determined not to lose Kaka and the club's vice-president Adriano Galliani claimed on Sunday that he is irreplaceable and dismissed notions of a Chelsea bid of this nature.

“Ricky (Kaka) is an untransferable player and Chelsea have never made such a bid,” he said.

There is more than a battle for Kaka between Chelsea and Milan at stake, though, with Italian football's pride also on the line.

A week ago the press lauded the return of Italian football to the transfer top table after Milan beat off English opposition to sign Ronaldinho.

That was seen as a reversal of recent trends that had seen Italy's best unable to compete with teams from Spain and particularly England for the signatures of top players.

But if an English team manages to lure the world's best player away from an Italian team, a dark gloom will surely descend once again over Italian football's collective ego.