Chelsea's hierarchy have made moves to set up a meeting between Kaka and Roman Abramovich to persuade the Brazilian that a £56m transfer to Stamford Bridge would be a better option for him than Real Madrid.

They are aware that the player is keener on a move to Spain but believe that they could yet outbid Madrid this summer.

Kaka is the first choice among the big names that Chelsea want to bring in this summer and Abramovich is prepared to outspend Madrid if necessary.

Despite what the player has said over the past few days, the clear signs from Milan, his advisors and father Bosco Leite are that Kaka is ready to move and preliminary offers are being encouraged by Milan.

The player would command wages of around £150,000 a week, which would break the Stamford Bridge wage structure.

However, Abramovich and his aide and club director Eugene Tenenbaum are confident that they would have the backing of John Terry and Frank Lampard. Both players are top of the scale on £135,000 a week but any move by them to renegotiate new deals in the event of Kaka arriving would be discouraged.

Chelsea have also signed their German midfielder Michael Ballack for another year, albeit it on vastly reduced wages to the £131,000 that he earned when he arrived from Bayern Munich in 2006.

Then the Germany captain had the benefit of coming without a fee and was rewarded with a huge signing-on fee spread across his contract. The 32-year-old said: "I am very happy to be staying at Chelsea for one more year."