Chelsea will make one final attempt to lure Carlo Ancelotti from AC Milan before turning their attention to other managerial candidates. The club are annoyed at the way in which the Italian publicly rejected their advances on Tuesday evening, saying that he was “150 per cent certain” that he would be at Milan next season after privately telling them that he was interested in moving to Stamford Bridge, but they have not given up hope of persuading him to change his mind.

Chelsea believe that the mixed messages that Ancelotti is giving out may be related to difficulties in his personal life. The club have learnt from experience that solemn proclamations from Milan are not always what they seem, having been told two years ago that Andriy Shevchenko was not for sale at any price before signing him for £30 million, but Ancelotti gave them little encouragement yesterday with another fierce rejection of interest. “It is just fantasy football that happens every year,” he said. “I will stay with AC Milan next season.”

Chelsea’s love-hate relationship with Milan took a further twist yesterday when Adriano Galliani, the Italian club’s vice-president, confirmed that they are interested in signing Shevchenko and Didier Drogba. The Ukraine striker has been pining for his spiritual home since shortly after signing for Chelsea, while Drogba also wants to leave in search of a fresh challenge, although a reunion with José Mourinho at Inter may be more to his liking, particularly because Milan have not qualified for next season’s Champions League.

Chelsea are ready to part with both players, but only for the right price, which is sure to be a problem, particularly in the case of Shevchenko. Milan want to take him on loan and pay only a proportion of his £130,000-a-week wages, an arrangement they used to secure the services of Hernán Crespo for a season three years ago, but Chelsea are unwilling to accept such a loss on a player who has cost them £43 million as a result of his transfer fee and wages. There may be considerable haggling over Drogba, who is valued at £20 million by Chelsea, but agreement should still be easier to reach over him than Shevchenko.

“Yesterday we spoke to Peter Kenyon and we have the very best of relations,” Galliani said. “We spoke about players, we spoke about Shevchenko, we spoke about Drogba, we spoke about lots of players, so there are certainly good relations with Chelsea. Between management of top-level European clubs we talk about everything.”

Galliani also confirmed that Kenyon had inquired about signing Kaká, the Brazilian who has replaced Ronaldinho as Roman Abramovich’s fantasy signing, but insisted that he is not for sale. “The situation is absolutely fine,” Galliani said. “There has never been any chance that Ancelotti will leave Milan. Yesterday evening Ancelotti confirmed it 150 per cent that he would stay with Milan next season. So, absolutely, Ancelotti will be coach of Milan next season. Kaká is absolutely not for sale, so Kaká and Ancelotti are definitely playing for Milan next season.”

Chelsea are prepared to wait to get their man, in the likely event of Ancelotti repeating his rejection, and may delay an appointment until after the European Championship finals this month in the hope of further candidates becoming available or new talent coming to the fore.

Luiz Felipe Scolari remains the most viable option, despite being unwilling to negotiate until Portugal’s involvement is at an end. Some officials at Chelsea have not given up on Guus Hiddink, the Russia coach, while others have pointed out that Slaven Bilic could prove himself ready for a top job by doing well with Croatia.

Luciano Spalletti, the AS Roma coach, is also under consideration — and was made the new favourite with the bookmakers yesterday on little basis — but there are reservations over his lack of experience in Europe and inability to speak English.

Porto out of Champions League

FC Porto have been excluded from next season's Champions League after a bribery scandal. The 2004 European champions won the Portuguese title last season, but were hit by a six-point deduction for attempting to bribe referees during the 2003-04 campaign, when José Mourinho was the coach. A club statement said: “FC Porto was today notified by the Uefa Disciplinary Committee of the decision to not admit FC Porto to the 2008-09 edition of the Champions League.” It added that the club would lodge an appeal.