Real Madrid are planning to wreck Chelsea’s Franck Ribery bid

Simon Johnson
5 Jun 2009

Chelsea's hopes of signing Franck Ribery suffered a huge blow today after Real Madrid entered the race for the Bayern Munich midfielder.

New Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti already appears to have lost one transfer battle with Real over Kaka.

The Italian now faces another fight with the Spanish giants after their new president Florentino Perez announced he is planning to have talks with Bayern chiefs.

Perez said: "I'm going to meet with my friends Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness to ask them about their intentions for Ribery.

"I'll tell them this player is one of our targets and that I want to discuss his possible move to Real. I hope to be able to count on him for this year."

The France midfielder has been a huge success at Bayern, having cost a club-record £21million from Marseille in 2007.

The 26-year-old was named player of the year following his first season in Germany and has been labelled the "jewel of French football" by his former international captain Zinedine Zidane.

Although Bayern said this week they do not want to sell, Ribery is destined to leave now that two of European football's biggest financial powers are chasing him.

Ribery is one of three stars Perez hopes to sign this summer, along with AC Milan playmaker Kaka and Manchester United midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ancelotti also wanted Kaka and even telephoned his former player to try and persuade him to move to Chelsea. However, AC Milan insist that he will either stay with them or join Real and a decision is expected to be announced on Monday.

Perez is confident of landing Kaka in a world record £56million deal. He said: "I think if Kaka leaves Milan it will be to join Real. I am very optimistic. I want to build a team with the best players of the world."

Although Chelsea could miss out on Ribery, their bid to get David Villa has been boosted after Valencia's president Vicente Soriano resigned over their cash crisis.

The Spanish club are believed to be around £400million in debt and Soriano fears the club could sell off 27yearold Villa and their other prize asset, midfielder David Silva.

Soriano, who was appointed last July, said: "I managed to hang on to Villa and Silva, and one year further on I am sure that if my successors want to sell them they will be worth much more than 12 months ago."