Bayern Munich have told Chelsea to up the ante if they want to have any chance of signing winger, Franck Ribery. Chelsea have made a bid of £40 million for the player, which is thought to be at least £10 million short of what the German side want for their best player.

The speculation over Ribery’s future has been going on continuously for the last few days and even weeks. Manchester United and Barcelona have also made bids but it is thought that all three sides do not agree with the valuation that has been placed on the Frenchman.

Bayern are playing a very dangerous game because if they carry on rejecting very lucrative offers for Ribery then the clubs involved may grow increasingly tired and just give up on the possibility of reaching a deal. It is clear that the clubs going for him do not value him to the same extent as the £56 million that Real Madrid paid AC Milan for Kaka.

The first official bid was made within the last two days and proves that Ribery will definitely be on his way to another club by the end of the summer. He would probably favour a move to England because of the ease that he could travel back and forth to France but the challenge of a move to Spain would be equally appealing.

Barca appear to be the most likely club to up any bid they have currently made. They are yet to move in the transfer market this summer and they could easily raise a lot of money in order to get their man. However, if they intend to do a Madrid and pay whatever it takes remains to be seen and it would quite refreshing to see some sensible decision making being made from a Spanish club at least on one occasion this month.

Out of the three, United would probably be the least likely to improve any bid they have made. Sir Alex Ferguson has always historically shown that he will bid what he thinks a player is worth and then will not go beyond that point. The English champions also need to improve in other areas so they would not be willing to blow the Ronaldo transfer money all on one player.

There will have to be a compromise somewhere otherwise Munich will be left with a player under contract who clearly wants to move to another club. This could damage the future of Ribery as well as have an effect on the rest of the team. If Ribery is unhappy and just twiddling his thumbs at the club then it will damage the morale of the first team and anger a lot of the coaching staff.

Therefore now that the cat has been well and truly let out of the bag, Ribery will go somewhere. The only problem is that it seems Munich are asking for too much and it could take a long time for a deal to be reached. All of the clubs who have made a bid for him clearly do not think he is worth the amount of money that is being asked for and until two parties can meet in the middle nothing will progress and stories of this nature will continue.