After much posturing, debate and media assumptions it seems David Beckham has made the decision not
to move to Paris-St. Germain for 2012. The club's sporting direct Leonardo has told the media that
the club's pursuit of the star is "finished".
Leonardo was the manager of AC Milan during Beckham's loan there in 2010.
We excavate this snippet and republish this from our Friday piece as today's action is about to
get underway.
The saga continues...
• Chelski vs. Europa's Elite: Man City
Man City now have a but the Premiership trophy to focus on as they, too, departed the Champion's
League brackets this week and headed to Europa's minor leagues.
If there was one thing that stood out from the game on Wednesday night for me it was Michael
Ballack. His performance in midfield was outstanding. Always on the move into space to receive the
ball, spraying the ball about the pitch, getting up to join the attack and he nearly scored twice.
It was a sign of a man full of confidence who is in stark contrast to his "old friends" here at
Chelsea.
Clearly the real star of the Bayer Leverkusen vs Chelsea game last night was Ballack Mann and
his Mask! Where's the cape? / Photo via Bongarts
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Join in for a rant or two on all things Chelsea. Or just some witty banter. We're good at
that.
Relive this moment, six times please
Team news forthcoming. And, if the Liverpool match wasn't a 'must win', then this surely has to
be? For a ton of reasons.
Sidenote: Anelka has been told by the club that he can leave in January.
I have to say the Nico Anelka reports of the past week are slightly confusing. I hadn't posted on
it as I was waiting until now to do so, but since AVB more or less confirmed that Anelka "wouldn't
be signing a new contract" and when asked does he want to leave, saying "Yes!" indicated to me that
he would be off and more than likely in January.
AVB and company open their European account with a fair acquittal against a tough German outfit.
Goals from David Luiz and Juan Mata (both set up by Fernando Torres) sealed all three points on
this night. More after the jump:
Back in style
The Match:
You have to be pleased with what you saw.
Michael Ballack returns to Stamford Bridge tonight for the first time since he left the club over a
year ago. Whether or not he plays is another thing, but Ballack spoke to the media ahead of the
game and was keen to speak of his time at the club.
He said:
"There are still a few players there and some who left in the meantime who I am still
friends with and whom I am still in touch with and also a few of the staff.
With the Champions League starting again tomorrow night and Michael Ballack making an "emotional"
return to Stamford Bridge, I thought I would re post an article I wrote back when the day it was
confirmed that Ballack was leaving us was announced (so remember all of the below is back
then).
Ballack spoke about tomorrow and said:
"I was very happy.
Per Mertesacker and the 10 best German Premier League imports including Ballack,
Klinsmann and Hamann
Ze Germans who have graced English football
View the full story here: Talksport
A news article on 2011-09-02 07:30:00 from: Talksport
This news item has been reproduced from today's media.
This morning we have woken up with the news that Didier Drogba is ready to put pen to paper on a
years extension to his contract at Chelsea taking him to the summer of 2013.
After a summer of speculation surrounding his future linking him with moves away from the club it
seems as though AVB and the Chelsea hierarchy feel that Drogba still has a very important part to
play this season.
New Technical Director, Michael Emenalo is featured this morning on Skysports speaking of the
Michael Essien injury and has openly admitted that Chelsea may not look to replace him this season
and stick with what we have in his position.
When asked about replacing Essien who is out for six months he said:
"The squad is littered with world-class players and the idea of replacing someone or
not replacing someone sounds a little bit ludicrous.
It's seems that with the appointment of Andres Villas-Boas at Chelsea and the continued press and
media coverage that follows there seems to be two important points that have pretty much gone
un-noticed as far as I am concerned. A battle that looks like being won already by AVB that formed
part and parcel of his negotiations with Chelsea.
After losing the last real super star from the Premier League, this country's press circled like
vultures with their predictions of what would come of us. The exit of Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona,
David Beckham, Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy, amongst others, didn't bring about our decline, but
the press were keen to believe that Cristiano Ronaldo's departure meant that "the decline" had
begun.
Carlo Ancelotti is making headlines this morning after his pre match press conference ahead of
Birmingham City at Stamford Bridge tonight because of one thing in particular and that's his
comment made of the squad he was left with this season.
Of course as you can imagine with the focus of the questions about his future Carlo has explained
that we haven't had the best of seasons because we never had players of enough quality to cover
when we had our mid-season crisis.
Michael Ballack has taken the time out to speak of Chelsea and their quest for Champions League
glory. Ballack knows only too well what defeat in the final stages of the Champions League feels
like and reveals just how much Moscow hurt us but, believes Chelsea and the players still have a
hunger and desire to win the worlds best club competition.
As personality clashes go, Phil Scolari's at Chelsea aren't the most earth-rivening imaginable,
largely because Phil Scolari's personality at Chelsea seemed to exist in a weirdly crumpled state
of defeatedness and timidity. Sure, he was Big Phil; yes, he was the manager who slugged players in
their pampered jaws right in the middle of games; absolutely, he was hired to bring fear
to an unruly dressing-room and blast away years of accumulated ego-grievances with the dynamite in
his head.
How closely were you paying attention to this week's football? Game Intelligence reveals some
titbits that may have slipped under the radar... 1. Ballack causes a shitstorm Bayer Leverkusen's
well-endowed midfielder was forced to apologise this week, after video footage ... Continue reading
→
Chelsea's Blues: Bizarre transfer window policy suggests deeper problems is a post from: Just
Football
Lying in 4th is one thing. Being outbid for Steven Pienaar by Spurs? A different matter
altogether. Joe Steppel returns to Just Football to look at the underlying
problems at Chelsea.
Croatian International, Nico Krancar, 26, looks likely to leave Tottenham in January
after the club stated that a bid of around 9 million would be accepted...
Bio: Despite continued speculation that he would move to Arsenal, Nico chose to
leave Hajduk Split for Portsmouth in 2006.
