Chelsea expect next week’s Champions League final to be Didier Drogba’s last match for the club and have identified potential replacements. The Ivory Coast striker is scheduled to sit down with the club at the end of the season to discuss his future, but may be disappointed at what they have to say.

While Avram Grant, the Chelsea first-team coach, is happy with Drogba’s contribution on the pitch, others at the club have tired of his attitude, shown by inconsistent performances and frequent threats to leave, and will let him go if they receive a suitable bid this summer. AC Milan have expressed an interest and Inter Milan could join in the bidding if, as expected, José Mourinho is appointed in place of Roberto Mancini as coach at the end of the season.

Drogba has a house in Milan, where he has spent a considerable amount of time on his days off this season, although he may be affronted at Chelsea’s willingness to let him go. While much of his unhappiness is centred on the wage differential between himself and the club’s top earners — John Terry, Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack — Drogba will not be offered an improved contract as an incentive for staying. The 30-year-old has three years left on the £95,000-a-week deal he signed last season.

Instead Chelsea are focusing their attentions elsewhere, with Mario Gómez, of VfB Stuttgart, having been identified as a potential leader of the line. Frank Arnesen, the Chelsea director of scouting and youth development, is advocating a move for the 21-year-old Germany player of Spanish descent, but Grant would prefer a more creative striker, such as Dimitar Berbatov.

David Villa is another long-term target, albeit in the role of second striker, which would necessitate Nicolas Anelka playing farther forward, and the Spain player indicated yesterday that he is ready to leave Valencia after a poor season during which they only narrowly avoided relegation. “If the club decided the best thing to do is to recoup money by selling me, I’ll accept that,” Villa said.

After being reprimanded by the club for his regular outbursts, Drogba has been keeping his counsel for some time, although he insisted yesterday that he will be fit for the Champions League final, despite suffering a knee injury last weekend. “I took a blow to my knee that was operated on,” Drogba said. “I put ice on it immediately, but there is nothing serious. I will be at training this week.”

Grant is even more confident that Terry will be fit to play, despite a dislocated elbow, while he dismissed Sir Alex Ferguson’s claims that Manchester United are in a stronger position having won the league title. “No team has the advantage and Sir Alex can say whatever he likes,” Grant said. “They want to take the Champions League and we want to take the Champions League, but no team has an advantage before the game.

“I’m very confident we can beat United. We’ve played them twice and beat them two weeks ago at Stamford Bridge. You can say what happened in my first game at Old Trafford — red card, penalty, goal. They were not the right decisions and I don’t think they are better than us. John Terry, I think, will be OK. Didier Drogba, I don’t know how serious it is, but he’ll do everything to play in this game.”

Grant is also confident of keeping his job next season, despite the club’s silence on the subject. “I’ve never seen anything else apart from me staying and am planning my future here,” he said. “If I’m not happy I’ll tell the owner [Roman Abramovich] and if he’s not happy he’ll tell me, but nothing has changed. We don’t need to make an appointment to meet like this, we can meet all the time.”