AC Milan have confirmed that Brazilian defender Roque Junior is travelling to Leeds to discuss a year-long loan deal with the Premiership club.
The Italian club's director general Ariedo Braida told the www.acmilan.it website that negotiations were well advanced.
"Before the signature and the ratification of the contract - which has not yet happened - Roque Junior will be going this evening to England to make personal contact with the club," said Braida.
"But we must underline there is nothing signed, nothing definitive."
The defender, who turns 27 on Sunday, was a member of Brazil's World Cup-winning squad. Leeds manager Peter Reid is hopeful of concluding a deal for the centre-back swiftly. He has moved following Bolton manager Sam Allardyce's failure to land the South American.
The main stumbling block for Reid with regard to Roque Junior's move is the player's wages, understood to be stg£40,000 a week at AC Milan following his summer 2000 transfer from Palmeiras, although it is hoped a compromise can be reached.