Kings Road billionaires Chelsea are keen to swoop for Inter striker Mario Balotelli, according to the Daily Mirror...

Following much hype and speculation regarding interest from Spanish giants Real Madrid, Chelsea have now jumped on the Balotelli bandwagon and they are ready to make old coach Jose Mourinho a mega offer for the Italian hit-man.

Fireworks are likely to start exploding between the English and Italian clubs, given the relationship 'Special One' and the Blues, who sacked him last year.

The Daily Mirror claims the West London club are keen on the Italian under-21 international following his outstanding performances. Balotelli fired the Azzurrini to a 3-1 win over Israel on Wednesday night and he is quickly becoming one of the hottest properties in football.

However, the striker is not finding much space at San Siro, fuelling speculation over his future as well as posing new questions on whether he would be keen on a move to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea are looking at Balotelli as an interim replacement for the injured Didier Drogba, but reports in Italy suggest the striker isn't keen on moving to the Premier League as it may ruin his chances of making a step up to Marcello Lippi's senior Azzurri squad.

A January bid for the player is expected and Inter may be tempted to part company with the rising star if they recieve a good offer from Chelsea supremo Roman Abramovic.

However, there is still the question regarding Mourinho, the coach is likely to shackle his player and scoff at his old club when he hears of their plans.

Wagner Ribeiro, Robinho’s former agent, has revealed all the details of the Robinho transfer saga which eventually saw the Brazilian playmaker move to Manchester City on transfer deadline day for a British record fee of £32.5million.

Ribeiro has revealed that Robinho was just about to sign for Chelsea when Premier League rivals City came in with a bigger offer which was eventually accepted by the Real Madrid hierarchy.

Wagner Ribeiro has even claimed that he had bought tickets to fly to London ready to confirm and seal the deal with Chelsea.

It has also been revealed that Chelsea made a later offer of £33million for Robinho, but Madrid would not accept it.

The little Brazilian playmaker has been a big hit in his opening few games for Man City, but even he believed he would sign for Chelsea just hours before the transfer window closed.

Ribeiro told Setanta Sports: “If you are going to sell cakes in the market, we have a better offer from Manchester City," he said.

Real were informed by Ribeiro that Robinho would reject a move to The City of Manchester Stadium.

“I told him that Robinho will reject it but they accepted it. I then demanded a salary higher than Chelsea’s offer and got 15 percent more.

“At the last moment, Chelsea offered €42 million but Real did not want to hear of it. Their pride would not allow it.”

Nick Turner
 

Juventus could lose Gianluigi Buffon to Manchester City as the Premier League side are ready to bid €70m for the Italian goalkeeper, according to Leggo.

The Citizens' new Arab owners are looking to take football to the next level as they attempt to bring in a host of the world’s greatest players thanks to their mega spending powers. Doctor Sulaim al-Fahim knows money talks and Buffon is next on his trasfer wishlist. “If we can buy the greatest players in the world then we will; we only want the strongest,” said the chief. Leggo claims that the English club are ready to tempt the Old Lady with a mega €70m bid for the experienced shot-stopper. Juventus are not likely to sell, however, given their Champions League ambitions, but such a massive offer is likely to raise some eyebrows in Turin. Buffon holds the record for being the most expensive goalkeeper in the world after Juve splashed out £32m in 2001 to sign him from Parma. Manchester City’s owners are clearly not afraid to splash the cash and any serious offers may be considered. Juve, though, will be concerned by the threat of losing a key man.