World Kick Off

Robinho's agent has been told first hand that Chelsea are considering making a bid of €35m for the forward to Real Madrid and hopes to use that to obtain his client a new deal.

Wagner Ribeiro told Brazilian television that the Blues revealed that they are weighing up making a firm move for his client and that Los Merengues should be prepared.

After being linked to a move to Manchester United as paprt of a swap deal for Cristiano Ronaldo, Robinho is said to want an extension to his contract at the Bernabéu.

While publicly declaring that he only wants to remain at Madrid, that will only happen if the club lengthen his current deal, which runs until 2010, by four years and increase his salary.

Ribeiro could use the news that Chelsea are interested to pressurise Madrid into re-opening negotiations during the summer to ensure that the player can settle back down.

"I met Peter Kenyon, Chelsea managing director, in London on Thursday," said Ribeiro. "He told me that they (Chelsea) were considering making an offer of €35m for Robinho."

Robinho was hailed as one of the stars of Madrid's title winning team last term and he and his agent believe that he should now have a wage to match the club's highest earners.

Madrid are dragging their feet over talks in the knowledge that he still has two years to run on his current contract.

Lucas Brown, Goal.com