Sport says beyond their £250,000-a-week contract offer, which was tabled to Kaka's father and agent, Bosco Izecson Pereira, last week by Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, the key to the mega bucks deal is image rights.

Along with a mooted £15 million signing on fee, which would be paid upfront to the Brazilian, Chelsea would also be willing to split the player's image rights 20:80. Broadly speaking, it could mean an annual £10 million bonus for Kaka above his £12 million salary.