Chelsea, looking to spend more of Russia billionaire owner Roman Abramovich’s money after his £75m (€108m) outlay so far, have targeted Crespo.

Marco Branca, Inter Milan’s sporting director, said: “We (Branca and technical director Gabriele Oriali) are returning to Milan today.”

“We are very calm. There have been no major movements. We will have to wait a couple of days to see if its either everything, or nothing.”

When told of reports in England that Inter had agreed to accept £16.5m (€23.8m) for the player, Branca said: “There is absolutely no agreement with Chelsea over the transfer of Hernan Crespo.”