Chelsea focus their attentions on Robinho

CHELSEA HAVE stepped up their interest in the Real Madrid forward Robinho after their sporting director, Frank Arnesen, met with the player's agent.

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who began his Chelsea job yesterday, has already signed the Portugal international Deco from Barcelona and there are increasing signs Robinho could be the next arrival.

Robinho's agent, Vagner Ribeiro, is determined to get the best move for the Real Madrid winger and claims he is better than Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been targeted by the Spanish champions.

"It's true that Chelsea are interested in signing Robinho," Ribeiro told the Spanish sports daily AS.

"They have been after him for a while and there has been much more contact since Scolari became the new Chelsea coach.

"I met with (Frank) Arnesen in London and he confirmed to me that Chelsea wanted my player."

The Spanish league champions are reportedly keen to offload the player to free up cash to buy Ronaldo, but Ribeiro insists his client is as good as, if not better than, the Portugal international.

"Neither Robinho nor I like the fact that Real Madrid can use him as part exchange in their bid to sign Cristiano Ronaldo," he continued. "We don't like this attitude and we want Madrid to start valuing Robinho because at the moment they're not.

"Robinho is as good a player as Cristiano Ronaldo or better. The difference is that Cristiano Ronaldo reached the Champions League final and Robinho didn't.

"But if Robinho had won such a title he would be at the same level as Cristiano."

Robinho (24) played an important role in Madrid's league success last season - scoring 11 goals in 32 games - his best campaign since joining the club in 2005.

Ribeiro claims he is not keen to leave the Bernabeu but would seriously consider doing so if Madrid continued to ignore his talents.

"Robinho's priority is to continue at Real Madrid," he added. "But he cannot stay in a place in which they don't recognise his talent and at the moment Real Madrid are not doing that and I'm not talking about money.

"I'm referring to the fact that they are undervaluing him in comparison to Cristiano Ronaldo."

Meanwhile, Scolari has been given a major boost in his bid to keep the England midfielder Frank Lampard at Chelsea after Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho admitted the player would not be joining him till the 2009-10 season.

Lampard's future has come under scrutiny since the arrival of Deco, who joined the club on a two-year deal on Monday.

The England ace has one year to run on his current contract and is due to resume talks about an extension when he returns for pre-season training next Monday.

Lampard (30) wants Chelsea to match the kind of money that Inter Milan can offer him and desires a four-year deal. But he has the option of letting his deal expire in order to quit Stamford Bridge as a free agent next summer.

The former Chelsea midfielder Roberto di Matteo is set to become the new MK Dons manager.

Uefa president Michel Platini is to meet officials from the Polish and Ukrainian Football Associations this week amid growing unease about the countries' ability to host Euro 2012.

Platini will visit Poland today, meeting the prime minister, Donald Tusk, and President Lech Kaczynski before flying to the Ukraine for talks tomorrow with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko.

"The visit is part of a top-level fact-finding mission," said Platini.

"We will meet with the countries' leaders and hold discussions with all the relevant bodies in charge of the preparations for Euro 2012 in order to take stock of the current situation . . ."

Platini knows it would be an embarrassment should one, or both, hosts be prevented from hosting the tournament but he is not prepared to risk Uefa's reputation. Spain and Italy would be favourites to step in, although Germany, who hosted the 2006 World Cup, could act as co-hosts if Uefa decided Poland, but not Ukraine, was up to the job.