Barca and Milan battle for Shevchenko

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Barcelona and AC Milan are set to go head-to-head for the signature of Andriy Shevchenko this summer.

The Ukrainian striker may well have played his last game for Chelsea after the club announced last night that he will undergo a groin operation at the end of the season.

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Spanish option: but Andriy Shevchenko has also been linked with a return to Italian giants Milan

Shevchenko missed Tuesday's Champions League semi-final defeat by Liverpool because of the injury and is a doubt for the club's remaining four fixtures, starting with Sunday's trip to Arsenal.

Milan president Silvio Berlusconi said today that the Italian club would welcome the striker back to Serie A without hesitation and that Shevchenko wanted the move to happen.

Berlusconi added: "He would like to come back, now we will see. Certainly for him the doors are not open, they are wide open."

The former Italian Prime Minister also insisted he was relieved that Liverpool and not Chelsea would be facing his team in the Champions League final in Athens on 23 May.

"I would not have been happy to face Sheva because of our personal relationship," he said. "I'm sorry his team lost but it is better that we don't have to fight with him to lift the cup."

But should Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich decide to sell Shevchenko, then Barcelona could also offer him a way out of Chelsea after accepting that Samuel Eto'o will be leaving Spain this summer.

Club president Joan Laporta had promised Frank Rijkaard that he would try to bring the Ukrainian to the Nou Camp before his move to the Premiership at the start of this season.

Barcelona are now thought to be willing to pay £15million for the 30-year-old, but there is also a possibility of a swap deal including Eto'o.

Chelsea chief scout Frank Arnesen has recommended Eto'o to Abramovich, claiming he is the best centre-forward in the world.

Abramovich had a £30m offer for the Cameroon international, who has a £75m buy-out clause in his contract, dismissed out of hand by Barcelona last year.

Eto'o has had a disappointing season at Barca and his fractured relationship with team-mate Ronaldinho is thought by many within the club to be unsustainable for another season.

Laporta's technical advisors have submitted a detailed dossier on Shevchenko's potential role as an outandout centre forward in a 4-3-3 formation between Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi.

Crossing to the Bridge? Samuel Eto'o has been linked in a swap deal with Chelsea for Ukrainian star Andriy Shevchenko

Rijkaard believes the Ukrainian would be a bargain and that Barcelona's style of play would suit him down to the ground.

Eto'o may not be the only arrival at the Bridge, as Chelsea prepare to lose Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou next January during the African Cup of Nations.

Reports have linked the champions with a move for Fiorentina striker Luca Toni. Chelsea could also boost their striker options by recalling Hernan Crespo from his two-year loan at Inter Milan.

But the Argentine, who will be a free agent next summer, never settled properly in London and does not want to return.

He said: "I hope Chelsea forget to recall me. I only need to find a good hiding place and wait for the option to run out so that the Chelsea officials forget who I am.

"Chelsea have the option to recall me and have time to do so until the end of May by simply sending a fax to Inter.

"If they don't do this my loan will be extended and I will be free. If instead they remember to send the fax, we will have to discuss my position and negotiations will start."

 

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