AC Milan will test Chelsea's determination to hang on to Michael Ballack with a bid to snap up the German midfielder.
Ballack wants to leave Stamford Bridge in January after being left out of the squad for the Champions League group phase.
Blues boss Jose Mourinho insists the club will not sell to front-runners Real Madrid after being riled by their coach Berndt Schuster going public with his continued interest in Ballack.
But European champions Milan are also interested in the player who has failed to settle at Chelsea since a free transfer from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2006. And unlike Madrid, Milan can come close to matching Ballack's £130,000-a-week pay deal.
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was one of several top European bosses who tried to land Ballack last year.
Ballack, 30, has been out since April with an ankle injury that needed surgery.
