Chelsea Target Alexandre Pato Has No Intention of Leaving AC Milan

Alexandre Pato has vowed to stay at Milan at least through the end of his contract.

The 21-year-old Brazilian is considered one of the best young strikers in the world when healthy and has been the subject of many transfer rumors since his arrival at AC Milan in 2007.

Pato has played 125 times for the Rossoneri and recorded 57 goals. He recorded 16 during an injury plagued season this past campaign while sharing time up top with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho and Antonio Cassano.

Since Carlo Ancelotti left Milan in 2009, Pato has drawn the most interest from Chelsea; the London-based giants have wanted Pato for a long time.

Even with the managerial takeover of Andre Villas-Boas, Chelsea are now ready to launch a bid which would send money and either Nicolas Anelka or Soloman Kolou to the San Siro.

Manchester City have also been linked to the man known as "the Duck" (Pato means duck and is not his real name, it was a name given to him at Internacional based on the name of his home town Pato Branco), but Chelsea seem like the most likely destination if a move is to occur.

However, the youngster has once again declared that he has no intention of leaving Milan at the moment.

Pato's contract runs until 2014 and he said that a move, if there is one, would not come until that time.

In the past, Pato has made other mentions about his career plan. He has said before that he would only leave for Barcelona should they come knocking. Later, he said that he would spend as much time as he could with Milan and then move back to Internacional (where he started his career) at the end of his playing days.