Juventus' World Cup defender Gianluca Zambrotta would prefer to play for AC Milan rather than English champions Chelsea if he had to leave the disgraced Italian giants.
The World Cup winner is set to quit Juventus following the team's relegation to Serie B as punishment for their role in the country's match-fixing scandal.
But the player's agent said AC Milan, who were allowed to remain in Serie A despite being implicated in the same controversy as Juve, have the upper hand in the negotiations.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"Zambrotta's wish is to stay in Italy but not at Juventus, and the only club that can afford the transfer and that have shown a keen interest is AC Milan," Giuseppe Bonetto said. "Should Juve fail to reach an agreement with AC Milan then Zambrotta will consider the other alternatives."
"An agent representing Chelsea will meet Juventus in the next few days. It will be down to Juventus to make the decisions and let us know what the options are once there is something concrete," he added. "Chelsea are not the only ones interested in Zambrotta as Real Madrid and Barcelona are also keen to sign the player."
Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said yesterday Chelsea are unlikely to be at full strength for the Community Shield on August 13 as several players will still be recovering from the World Cup.
The Blues face Liverpool in Cardiff with Mourinho prepared to rest some of his biggest names as they complete their recovery from Germany.
Williams Gallas and Claude Makelele featured for France in the final while Ricardo Carvalho and Paolo Ferreira contributed to Portugal's passage into the last four.
Mourinho claims Chelsea's rivals will be better prepared for the new campaign and does not expect to have a full squad to select from until late August.
"Manchester United played in South Africa [in a friendly tournament] with a first XI, we cannot do this," Mourinho told Chelsea TV.
"I believe our first part of the season will be quite difficult. For example, when we play the Community Shield, Liverpool have already played Champions League matches and have been training for a month. When we play Manchester City in the first game it will be a very similar situation so I think we won't start in the full position," he added.
"But the reality is we have to play with half the team for our first game in the US. Some of them will not be ready to play in the Community Shield," Mourinho said. "It's a competition and it's a cup we enjoyed winning last season and of course we want to win this time around as well, but I'll look at it in a different way.''
Chelsea travel to the US for a pre-season training camp and will play the Major League All-Stars on Aug. 5.
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