CHELSEA F.C. NEWSROOM

Chelsea, Arsenal battle for Atletico Madrid prospect
tribalfooball.com - February 07, 2007

Chelsea and Arsenal are battling for Atletico Madrid prospect Ruben Ramos.

The 17 year-old is understood to be ready to pursue his professional career outside of Spain and has already received interest from both Premiership giants.

Ramos, a Spain U17 international, is regarded highly inside Spanish football, but is not a starter for Atletico's youth team. This has forced Ramos' father and their agent, Juan Manuel Lopez, to consider leaving the Madrid giants.

Xavi: Barcelona would welcome Chelsea's Lampard
tribalfooball.com - February 07, 2007

Barcelona midfield ace Xavi admits he'd welcome Chelsea star Frank Lampard to the Nou Camp next season.

Lampard is a summer target for Barca and Xavi says: "We're only halfway through this season, so it's not the time to talk about transfers. But he is an exceptional footballer.

"He is very complete in all facets and his influence on Chelsea and England is very important.

"We (Barcelona) would receive him with open arms. We all know Lampard and that he could contribute a lot to the team."

More Chelsea injury woe as Ballack limps off
tribalfooball.com - February 07, 2007

Chelsea's injury curse has struck for a second time this week.

After Wayne Bridge broke down at England training on Monday, midfielder Michael Ballack was forced off during Germany's victory last night over Switzerland.

Ballack admitted he was in pain and "not feeling well" when he left the stadium.

"It is definitely a strain but I hope it's not serious," Ballack told PA Sport after the match. "We have to wait and see in the next few days how the pain is. I hope it does not get worse."

Ballack feels frustrated by the timing of the injury.

"The injury is annoying for me," he said. "I've been getting through the season quite well in terms of injuries so picking up a knock in a friendly like this is annoying and unfortunate."

CLUB REVENUE

Real Madrid - £202.0m

Barcelona - £179.1m

Juventus - £173.7m

Man Utd - £167.8m

AC Milan - £165.0m

Chelsea - £152.8m

Inter Milan - £142.8m

B Munich - £141.5m

Arsenal - £133.0m

Liverpool - £121.7m

This list shows that Chelsea isn't far behind the top 5 clubs which is quite fine with me.

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Chelsea’s Michael Ballack Ruled Out For At Least 2 Weeks – Mikel, Bridge Likely To Miss Middlesbrough Clash

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Speculation is sure to mount over Frank Lampard's Chelsea future after the England star's agent said he was not certain if the midfielder would still be at Stamford Bridge next season.

Lampard, whose girlfriend is Spanish, has been linked with reigning European champions Barcelona for some time.

The 28-year-old midfielder still has two years remaining on his contract with the west Londoners, who have been looking to tie him down to a longer deal.

But Lampard's agent Steve Kutner has been quoted as saying: "Frank Lampard is a Chelsea player until the end of the season. From then, we have not decided anything yet. Who knows what can happen?

"Right now he is concentrating on one thing and that is playing for Chelsea. It's still too early to say where he will go if he leaves the club."

Recently Kutner denied claims that Lampard was close to signing a new deal with Chelsea.

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JOHN TERRY has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make his mark as an England leader and does not intend to waste it.

The Chelsea defender has finally recovered from his recent back injury and is ready to make up for lost time.

His lack of match fitness means he will not start tonight’s game against Spain but he is raring to go if required.

And he makes it clear he has only loaned the armband to Steven Gerrard on a very temporary basis.

Terry revealed: “I want to be remembered as a great England captain, not just as a bloke who wore the armband a few times.

“There is no greater honour in my life than captaining my country and I’ve got one chance to make a success of it.

“I want to make the most of it and give it everything I can.

“I don’t want to look back in 10 or 15 years and say ‘Oh, I wish I’d done this or that’. I want to do everything I can to gain success with England and have no regrets.”

Nobody was more distraught by England’s World Cup exit than Terry and the nation’s failure to gain international glory baffles him.

He admitted: “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be doing a lot better when you consider what we’ve achieved at club level.

“Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have all done well in the Champions League over the years.

“We’re playing against the best teams in the world and beating them on a regular basis.

“It’s just down to performing more consistently in an England shirt.

“We need to get the balance right. We’ll have two or three good games and then suffer a big dip in the next.

“But we can’t do that if we’re going to win a big tournament. We need to play consistently well over seven or eight games in a row.

“There is a sense of frustration when you look around the squad and see so many great players all coming together.

“Everyone expects great things of England, including the players, but it doesn’t happen automatically.

“I do take it personally when things don’t go right. Even more so now that I’m captain.

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“It’s my job to put things right around the place and to make things happen.

“If I see fit to make changes I’m not afraid to do that.”

Terry, speaking at the launch of Umbro’s new England strip which will be worn for the first time tonight, did not expect to be involved against Spain.

He said: “It’s great to be back after seven weeks out injured. I missed 13 games for Chelsea which was the longest I’ve been out in the last four years.

“To miss that amount of time was a horrible experience.”

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Drogba wants double whammy

Feb 9 2007

Chelsea's leading goalscorer Didier Drogba insists winning the 'Golden Boot' in Europe this season would mean nothing if Chelsea fail to claim the Barclays Premiership title for a third successive season. The Ivorian hitman, who has 23 goals so far this season, would prefer to win both awards to round off one of the best seasons of his career. Drogba said: "Of course I can win the Golden Boot. But as much as I'd love to be the top scorer, it would mean nothing if Chelsea don't win the league. I'd like to win the Premiership and the Golden Boot." He added: "I've scored some great goals this year. If I had to pick my best, I'd say it was the one at Everton. It was a dramatic last-minute goal and a very important one because we came from behind to win." Drogba will lead the attack against Middlesbrough at Stamford Bridge tomorrow although Chelsea may be furthered hampered by injuries to midfielder Mikel Jon Obi and Michael Ballack.

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Call me Mr Mash Mash

GEREMI has been given one of the strangest nicknames in football by his Chelsea team-mates — Mr Mash Mash.

Although it sounds like the sort of name you would pick up because of your favourite way of eating spuds, its origin is far less obvious.

Geremi said: "It's because I always answer my phone by saying Mash Mash. It's how the Japanese answer their phones.

"I picked it up when I visited Japan and I really like the people there — they are so kind and respectful."

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CHELSEA'S TRUMP-CARD?

DUTCH winger Arjen Robben could emerge as Chelsea's trumpcard in their title race.

Robben is desperate to put his bad luck behind him and inspire Chelsea to success in the Premiership and three major competitions this season.

His season has been plagued by calf, hamstring and ankle ligament injuries but he made an instant impact after coming on as a substitute in Chelsea's comfortable 3-0 victory over Middlesbrough.

The champions were already leading 1-0 courtesy of Didier Drogba's goal when Robben was introduced into the action in the 65th minute.

Sixty seconds and four touches later, Robben helped Chelsea double their lead when his shot was deflected by Boro's Abel Xavier for a Boro own goal.

Now, Robben wants to have a consistent run-in as Chelsea chase glory in the FA Cup, Carling Cup, Premiership and Champions League.
PRESSURE

Manager Jose Mourinho's side can forget about the league until next month after the win over Boro helped them to keep the pressure on Manchester United at the top.

Next up is an FA Cup fifth-round tie against Norwich or Blackpool, a return to Mourinho's old side Porto in the last 16 of the Champions League and a Carling Cup final showdown against Arsenal - and the Dutch winger cannot wait to throw off his injury-stricken tag.

Even Mourinho associates an injury like Robben's is usually followed by a long spell on the sidelines but the Dutchman insists nobody is more frustrated than him.

Robben said: 'I can imagine people seeing me playing well one week and then out again, then thinking I'm always injured. I can assure them that there's one person who's the most frustrated and that's myself.

'I need to get a lot of games under my belt, play consecutively a lot of matches. I can do a lot of things for the team.'

Robben's most recent injury was sustained against Liverpool.

Mourinho will no doubt be hoping that Robben can remain fit for the rest of the season, and there were indications against Boro that it will not take him long to return to his best form. - PA Sport.

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This the goal scored and the rating by the ESM for the strikers in Europe in which our marksman tops the charts.

1 Didier Drogba        Chelsea (ENG)                         17   34
2 Afonso Alves    Heerenveen (NED)                         22   33
3 Frédéric Kanouté   Sevilla (ESP)                            16   32
4 Maksim Gruznov   Trans Narva (EST)                    31   31
5 Ronaldinho   Barcelona (ESP)                                15   30
5 Cristiano Ronaldo   Man United (ENG)                   15   30
7 Daniel Nannskog   Stabæk (NOR)                          19   28.5
8 Francesco Totti   Roma (ITA)                                  14   28
8 Diego Milito   Real Zaragoza (ESP)                        14   28
10 Roman Pavlyuchenko   Spartak Moscow (RUS)  18   27
10 Veigar Gunnarsson   Stabæk (NOR)                    18   27
10 Dmitri Lipartov   Trans Narva (EST)                      27   27

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ive actually grwon respect for drogba this year...he's cut the diving (for the most part) and concentrated on the football and look at the results (but i think the diving has branded him for the rest of his career)

Juz Name a guy who's never ever dived in his entire football career....in fact, you can't.

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Chelsea Report NFA to Fifa

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Chelsea FC have made a formal complaint to FIFA over Nigeria's fielding of John Obi Mikel in Tuesday's international against Ghana.

Mikel had already explained that death threats by Nigerian fans on family members forced him to play the match, but Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is far from being impressed by the explaination. The Portuguese born coach had claimed that Mikel suffered a thigh injury during their 1-0 victory over Charlton last Saturday that was likely to keep him out "for about 10 days".

Information pasted on the club's website indicated that the Blues will this week send faxes to FIFA and the Nigeria Football Association protesting the usage of the player in the game despite his injury.

Mourinho was furious and reprimanded the young player for ignoring his order not to strain his thigh any further. "No one at the Nigeria federation pointed a gun on Mikel's head and forced him to play," said a club official.

It gathered that Mourinho allowed Mikel to join the rest of the Super Eagles to avoid another controversy which tend to follow the club at every turn. He never envisaged that the young player will go playing for 90 minutes.

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