Italian giants AC Milan are reportedly hunting the signature of the Chelsea custodian Petr Cech and are ready to splash out as much as €48 million for the highly rated Czech international goalkeeper.

Milan’s current goalkeeper Nelson Dida has long been tipped to leave the club and the Brazilian international goalie’s current contact at Milan expires in the summer. Milan are disinclined to hand Dida a new deal and this implies that Dida is set to leave the club on a free transfer.

Therefore Milan shall be busy in the transfer market to replace Dida. Although they have a good number of options, such as Fiorentina’s Sebastien Frey, Celtic’s Artur Boruc, and PSV Eindoven’s Heurelho Gomes with even their current second choice custodian Zeljko Kalac in the frame, the latest report emanating from Italy suggest that Milan want to sign Petr Cech from Chelsea.

Last week the Czech international goalkeeper’s agent Pavel Zika was quoted in the Czech newspaper Pravo as saying:

“I know quite a large European club is ready to pay over 30 million euros for Petr Cech. It is an important sum for a goalkeeper. At the end of the season, we will consider the current contract of Petr and see whether we can improve it.”

At the time it was generally felt that this was merely a “flier” to make Chelsea raise the player’s wages but now it’s been virtually confirmed that indeed there are offers for Cech.

But whether Petr Cech would like to play for Milan or not is another thing altogether. Milan are currently fifth in the Italian Serie A this season with just one more round of matches remaining. Should fourth place Fiorentina win their match at the weekend, then Milan would have to miss out on UEFA Champions League football next season, which would certainly dampen any prospect of signing Cech who shall feature in the Champions League final for Chelsea against Manchester United in Moscow next week.