The billionaire Chelsea owner has bankrolled the array of stars who have come and gone at Stamford Bridge.

His money has bought him two English Premier League titles - the first after a 50-year break.

But is he willing to pay more than £1 million (S$2.7 million) a month for the current World and European Footballer of the Year?

Kaka, the Brazilian playmaker at AC Milan, is the coveted object of desire at Chelsea.

Chelsea's new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari, the former Brazil and Portugal coach, is keen to link up with Kaka in his English adventure.

For that to happen, Chelsea must be willing to pay him at least £250,000 a week, reported Sunday's Observer Sport.

The staggering potential salary dwarfs David Beckham's on-field earnings at LA Galaxy and any previous pay for a player anywhere else.

It would almost certainly cause Chelsea's current highest earners to seek their own increase, as would others in the top flight. It is believed that the highest-paid stars receive around £130,000 a week.

The 26-year-old, whose representative last week claimed Chelsea had made a 100-million euros (S$210 million) bid for him, signed a new deal earlier this year. By 2013, it would earn him a 13-million euros salary - just less than £1m a month.

A Milan source told Observer Sport: 'Kaka's contract gives him nine million euros in its first season and rises by a million euros for each of its five years.

'To better that, Chelsea will have to begin at more than £200,000 a week.''

With a similar step arrangement likely, during the course of a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge, Kaka would expect to see his wages rise to at least £250,000 a week.

He 'has been offered a considerably bigger sum than Milan's'', a source confirmed to Observer Sport.

Both clubs have denied that a bid had been made, but are believed to be keen to do business over Kaka.

Meanwhile, Chelsea's new right-back Jose Bosingwa has been ruled out for at least three weeks, after tearing a thigh muscle in last week's friendly against Guangzhou Pharmaceutical.