Rumour Meltdown
Today the rumour mill went into over-drive. Christian Vieri, Luis Saha, David Trezeguet, Scott Parker, Joe Cole, Gabriel Heinze, David Seaman: almost a full squad are mentioned…
Starting at the front of the squad, there are rumours from Italy that long-standing target Christian Vieri's prospects of coming to Chelsea are hotting up. The proposed sequence of events would see Chelsea take Vieri, whereas Inter would immediately fill the Vieri-shaped hole in their squad with … long-running target Adriano, from Parma. Inter have been the favourites to land Adriano, and in any case, they own half of the rights over the Brazilian.
Chelsea need a new forward, as Hernan Crespo (also from Inter) is likely to be off the pitch for the next 6 weeks (at least) following a calf strain. Vieri is one of the Blues' options - particularly since it would appear that he's had a row with the Inter coach Alberto Zaccheroni, which saw the striker pull out of the Inter squad for last night's 0-0 draw at Udinese in the Coppa Italia. The row was about a disagreement on fitness: Zaccheroni considered that Vieri was fit, whereas Vieri wanted to stay at home to receive treatment for a knee problem.
There are even reports that Vieri wanted to stay out of this game so as not to jeopardise his transfer to Chelsea - and that an Inter official, Lele Oriali, went to London to negotiate the deal.
Vieri has been a long-standing target since Roman Abramovich took over (and even beforehand). Another option, apparently, is David Trezeguet (also interesting Barça), who is not happy with his pay at Juve. Chelsea are said to be in with a £25 million offer for the French goal machine, and Chelsea people were in Turin today to talk this one through, say the reports.
Or, could it be that the striker that Chelsea will be signing is, in fact, Luis Saha? The world of football (and Salford) was rocked by the revelations in today's Evening Standard that Chelsea were about to scupper ManUre's long-running courtship of Fulham's hitman (who has 13 to his name so far this season - and would be eligible to play in Europe). At best, Chelsea will have on their hands a striker who is proven in the Premiership. At worst, Chelsea will succeed in pushing up the price that ManUre will have to pay for him. Fulham have, for some time, complained about the way which ManUre had been trying to bring Saha to Old Trafford, and would probably jump at the chance not to sell Saha to ManUre. It was thought that an agreement had been reached for a £9,8 million sale, although Fulham wanted £12 million, but today both Fulham and ManUre denied that there was an agreement. Could the Chelsea rumour, in fact, be a ruse by Fulham to ask ManUre to push their price up a bit more?
Moving to the midfield, after Chelsea's sensational, er, inquiry about Charlton's Scott Parker yesterday, more details have emerged about the nature of what Chelsea were to offer. Some sources say that Chelsea were prepared to swap Joe Cole for Parker (yeah, right). Others talk of a £6 million bid - or was it £7 million, £12 million, or even £17 million? Or, was it (as Charlton have said) merely an inquiry?
At least we can offer some clarification as regards the (frankly surreal) suggestion that Chelsea offered Joe Cole as part of a swap deal. To name and shame that particular source, we are happy to reveal that it was 'The Sun' which published that particularly rancid tripe. This evening, Chelsea officially denied that Cole would be leaving the squad, or that he could be part of any deal. In addition, Claudio Ranieri stated that "Joe is a highly valued member of Chelsea's first team squad, and is playing an important role in our exciting season." We'll also not mention Nicky Butt - after all, the Nicky Butt to Chelsea rumours merely started when journalists asked Claudio what he thought of the ManUre reject, and Claudio, with his habitual politeness, said that Butt was a good player.
Whatever the nature of the 'bid/inquiry', the Evening Standard suggests that Scott is 'unsettled' by Chelsea's bid. Charlton are determined to hold on to their key player, but the Evening Standard states that 'sources close to the player say he is interested in the move to Stamford Bridge', although, out of loyalty to the club, he will not hand in a transfer request to help smooth that particular move.
Staying in the midfield department, we should mention that we were, apparently, due to sign Pavel Nedved - this year's Golden Boot winner, and astonishingly awesome Juventus dynamo - over the summer. The deal was all tied up until Pavel thought about asking Mrs Nedved. Her indoors was not keen to swap Turin for London, so Pavel had to pull out of the deal. If we remember, it was Mrs Zola who needed to be convinced of Gianfranco staying at Chelsea another season, and we succeeded there. Should we try to exercise the same powers of persuasion on Mrs Nedved?
In the defence, a new name has emerged as a centreback (apparently as Chelsea are frustrated at the rejection, by Valencia, of our bid for Fabian Ayala and consider that a £35 million evaluation for Barça's Carlos Puyol is silly). The man is Argentinian international defender Gabriel Heinze, currently playing at Paris Saint-Germain. Indeed, there are rumours of a £11,5 million bid for Heinze. Once again, the key point is that Heinze and his club have argued.
The argument has centred on the fact that the PSG coach Vahid Halilhodzic continues to play the 25-year-old at left-back, despite the fact he plays for Argentina in his preferred centre back position.
Heinze's quality as a defender aroused interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid over the summer. Plus he is free to play in the Champions League because PSG are not in Europe this season. The Evening Standard quotes a PSG source as saying, today, that "Given the size of the offer and the fact that Gabriel and the coach are struggling to get along with each other, Chelsea's offer may suit all parties and a deal may be possible."
In the interests of completeness, we shall also relate that a website did suggest that Wayne Bridge could be on his way to ManUre - a rumour that we consider almost comical in its stupidity.
And in the goalkeeping department, on the day that Manchester City have announced that they are to sign David James, and when David Seamen has also announced his imminent retirement, there are rumours that the man with the ludicrous ponytail might end up at Stamford Bridge … as a goalkeeping coach. Let's hope that he works on the way he teaches goalkeepers how to deal with dead balls. No news on Parma's Sebastian Frey, although it is also said that Chelsea will formulate a new offer to Rennes for Petr Cech. That offer would include Chelsea's assistance in providing a new goalkeeper to Rennes (for instance one of the many that we already have on our books).
And there is even time for a rumour from the backrooms - Manchester United and Chelsea have reached an agreement on Peter Kenyon, allowing the former's chief executive to come out of gardening leave and start work at Chelsea.
If you don't mind, I'm having a lie-down now…
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