Wages key as Crespo negotiates offer

Hernan Crespo's agent will meet the Chelsea chief executive, Peter Kenyon, today to discuss the future of the Argentinian striker. AC Milan are interested in signing Crespo (28) but only on a one-season loan with an option for a longer-term deal. However they are unwilling to pay his salary of €4.8 million a year.

Fernando Hidalgo, the agent who also helped Juan Sebastian Veron to leave Stamford Bridge for Internazionale, said: "I will meet Kenyon and ask him if he's ready to accept Milan's condition."

Milan's highest-paid player is the Ukrainian striker Andrei Shevchenko, last season's Serie A top scorer, who earns €4 million a season, and the Italian champions would be unwilling to go beyond that. One way around the problem would be for Chelsea to make up any shortfall in wages.

Milan's coach, Carlo Ancelotti, is a huge fan of Crespo, having worked with him at Parma, and he tried to sign him several times at Juventus.

Milan are confident that Chelsea are eager to let the Argentinian international go in order to make space for the Marseille striker Didier Drogba. Chelsea also completed the €7.5 million signing of the 25-year-old striker Mateja Kezman from PSV Eindhoven yesterday after the Serbian was granted a work permit.

"He has the motivation to come to the top league in the world and that, along with his scoring record, makes him a good player for me," said Chelsea's coach Jose Mourinho, who was unimpressed by Crespo's late arrival for pre-season training and wants him to be fully committed to the club before they set off for their tour to the United States on July 21st.

"We have to decide in the next few days and I mean we - we as a club, Hernan, Hernan's family - what is going to happen with Hernan.

"It's up to him. I don't want players who are not 100-per-cent ready to stay. If he has one per cent of doubt I don't want him to stay."

Milan have loaned out Marco Borriello, their fourth option in attack behind Shevchenko, Filippo Inzaghi and Jon Dahl Tomasson, and have terminated the contract of the Brazilian defender Roque Junior in order to be able to sign another non-European player like Crespo.

"I speak every day with Ancelotti. He's sure that the signing of Crespo won't change the equilibrium of the squad," Milan's vice-president Adriano Galliani said. "Ancelotti knows Crespo very well, both as a player and as a man. We will try to make him happy if possible."

Hidalgo has insisted the player should not accept a salary cut just to join Milan. "Crespo would like to work again with Ancelotti but it won't be a problem for him to stay in London for another season."

Denmark winger Jesper Gronkjaer has joined Birmingham from Chelsea for 3.3 million.

Former Ajax star Gronkjaer has signed a two-year deal with a year option after turning down approaches from the Primera Liga's Sevilla.

The 26-year-old said: "I have been really impressed by Steve Bruce and his new structure at Birmingham and I am really looking forward to being featured in his plans."

Striker Carlton Cole yesterday also moved from Stamford Bridge to Aston Villa on a season-long loan.

Meanwhile, Leeds United have admitted for the first time that their Thorp Arch training complex could be sold, with the news coming on top of the abrupt resignation yesterday of the managing director, David Richmond.

Gerald Krasner, who took over as chairman in March after heading a consortium that saved the club from liquidation, said Thorp Arch was included in discussions to sell the ground and lease it back over a 25-year period.

Discussions over the ground and Thorp Arch, seen as prime real estate in nearby Wetherby, were continuing though Krasner said the board had yet to see a deal it liked.

Confirming that Thorp Arch is part of the talks, he said: "Everything is possible." But he added that he is bemused at the fans' outcry over reports that the ground was up for sale.

"The position has not changed since March. It's bad enough when you're criticised for changing your mind but we've said that the sale and lease back of Elland Road has been an option since day one."

The turbulence surrounding the Yorkshire club will not be eased by the departure of Richmond, who cited "personal reasons".

Krasner admitted the resignation was a "surprise" but said the split was amicable and he was "very sorry" to see him go, paying tribute to the work he had done in decreasing the club's mammoth wage bill.

Wages have been slashed over the past two years from £57 million to £41 million last year and now stand at just over £18 million.

High earners including Mark Viduka, Nick Barmby, Dominic Matteo, Alan Smith and Paul Robinson have already moved but Krasner said yesterday there would be further departures.