AC Milan, Real Madrid and Inter are chasing Didier
Drogba. Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP
AC Milan have opened talks over the summer transfer of Didier
Drogba from Chelsea. The Italian club's sports general manager,
Ariedo Braida, met two of Drogba's representatives in a Paris hotel
on Tuesday to discuss Milan's reinforcement plans. But any transfer
could depend on whether the Italian club qualify for next season's
Champions League.
Braida informed them that Milan intended to buy Ronaldinho from
Barcelona, bring Andriy Shevchenko back from Chelsea and sign
Drogba as a principle centre-forward. Salary was not discussed,
although Milan are expected at least to match the Ivorian's current
weekly wage of around £90,000.
However, Milan are two points outside the Champions League
places, a gap that would be increased to five with two games left
were they to lose today's home derby with leaders Inter while
Fiorentina won at struggling Cagliari.
Milan, who were last season's European champions, were
eliminated from this year's tournament by Arsenal. They face a trip
to mid-table Napoli and a home game against Udinese - who are
chasing a Uefa Cup spot - in their last two matches. Fiorentina
face games against two more teams battling relegation, at home to
Parma then away to Torino on the last day of the campaign.
Drogba, who scored twice in last week's Champions League
semi-final defeat of Liverpool, resolved to leave Chelsea after
their dismissal of José Mourinho in September. He has told friends
that he believes he will be permitted to join another club and has
allowed some of his feelings for current manager Avram Grant to
become clear. The striker opened a recent column for French
magazine Sport with the words: 'Don't ask me what I think of Grant.
It's better for everybody if I keep quiet.'
Two other sides who have definitely qualified for next season's
Champions League are in the running to sign the 30-year-old:
Spanish league leaders Real Madrid and Inter, provided Mourinho
agrees to replace Roberto Mancini as the Serie A club's coach.
Grant has been unable to guarantee Drogba's presence at the club
next season. On Friday the Chelsea manager said: 'There are a lot
of rumours about everybody. Didier can only play for one club, but
he's been linked to six or seven. He's at the club. Sometimes he
has good days, sometimes he has bad days. Most of the time, you
have to give answers to questions like this on the pitch. In the
semi-finals, he was good.'
Meanwhile, despite Avram Grant's disclosure that Roman
Abramovich called to congratulate him following Chelsea's defeat of
Liverpool in last week's Champions League semi-final his job is
still not safe, according to a Stamford Bridge executive.
The source also claimed that the Russian billionaire had been
absent from many of Chelsea's recent games because he was 'unhappy
with the club's results'. 'He is happier now, of course,' the
source said. 'But it is still unclear what will happen regarding
Grant's future. Mr Abramovich was not present on Wednesday for two
reasons. The first is because he was in Moscow due to the changing
political situation. But he has also been unhappy at the form of
the team.' Grant created history by leading Chelsea to their first
European Cup final, but even if the club were to win the
competition and the Premier League, his future could still be in
doubt, the source said.
Sven-Göran Eriksson, who has been told by Manchester City owner
Thaksin Shinawatra that he will be sacked at the end of the season,
is one candidate to replace Grant if he were to leave, with the
Israeli a possible mover in the opposite direction. 'The club would
be interested in Grant. The owner likes him very much,' a City
insider said. West Ham are also thought to be monitoring Grant if
they decided to replace manager Alan Curbishley in the summer.