Bayern Munich tell Chelsea: If you want Franck Ribery, he'll cost you 31m

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon has already made contact with Bayern about the
midfielder’s proposed move to Stamford Bridge but a decision will not be made until the end of Euro 2008.

Ribery has emerged as one of Chelsea’s top three transfer targets this summer - AC
Milan midfielder Kaka and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres are the others - but
Chelsea will have to pay in excess of £31million to sign the France midfielder.

Record man? Ribery will cost £31m if Chelsea want him

On the managerial front, Luiz Felipe Scolari is now their first choice, and even though negotiations with Portugal’s coach have not been concluded the club are still ready to sign more big names.

Chelsea and Portugal defender Paulo Ferreira claimed Scolari would be a great success. Ferreira said: "He has the experience. He has been an international manager for six or seven years but before that he was at a lot of clubs, so we know he can do it. I would like him."

Bayern Munich’s new coach Jurgen Klinsmann clearly wants to keep Ribery, voted
German football’s Player of the Year, at the Bundesliga champions but the midfielder is well aware of Chelsea’s interest.

Despite Bayern’s initial resistance, Chelsea are prepared to pay more than the £30.8m they spent on Andriy Shevchenko two years ago.

Ribery, who scored in France’s 1-0 victory over England in a friendly in March, plays for his country against Romania tonight in their first group game of the tournament.

He moved to Bayern for £16m last summer on the back of a successful season with
Marseille - he was voted Player of the Year in France in 2007 - and he arrives at Euro
2008 in top form.

Kenyon is also in negotiations with Milan about former world player of the year Kaka, and Chelsea have been encouraged by Liverpool not rejecting out of hand their initial
approach for Torres.

Although Kaka signed a contract at the San Siro earlier this year and claimed that he
wanted to be ‘immortalised’ in the same way as Paolo Maldini, Milan’s failure to qualify for the Champions League has altered his position.

Milan are ready to sign Didier Drogba, and the Kaka deal could be linked to that.
Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani said: "Chelsea have authorised us  to begin
negotiations with Drogba. Unfortunately, Chelsea will not sell Shevchenko."

The absence of injured talisman Drogba was felt by the Ivory Coast yesterday when
they were surprisingly held to a 0-0 draw in a World Cup qualifier in Madagascar.

The Chelsea striker missed a  second successive match for his country as a depleted
Ivorian side, also missing Drogba’s clubmate Salomon Kalou, could only pick up a
point against the Indian Ocean island, whom they were expected to beat convincingly.