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Chelsea FC have confirmed the Nicolas Anelka transfer. Papers say it is for £15 million. He joins just in time for the important league match against the Spurs at Stamford Bridge tomorrow. Any bets for a debut goal by ‘le sulk’?

Almost the same set of names are being linked with Chelsea but there are some surprises too. Let me take a quick review by the player names.

Nicolas Anelka – We’ve just signed him. At 29 years, this could be Anelka’s last big stop. He always longed to play in the champions league. Despite doing poorly in the league, I don’t think Bolton can resist the Chelsea money for a player who has already made up his mind to leave. Anelka does have the pace and skill, the experience in the english league but don’t expect too much work rate from him. Think of Hernan Crespo with turbo boots. That’s what he’ll be. Moreover, he is an out and out striker who will not give you too much flexibility in terms of selection and bending the formation. In 2000, he was priced 20 million, 12 million in 2002, 7 million in 2005, 8 million in 2006 and now anything more than 10 million would be way too much. He has never been a fans’ favourite as he has played for 8 clubs in 11 years. Forget loyalty, he would be playing for money and personal glory. I’m not saying this in a negative manner, not that I care, if he can deliver the goods and pack his bags next season.

Franco Di Santo – This 17 year old Argentine striker is believed to have been signed by Chelsea. While that’s what most of the papers say, the official Chelsea FC website does not carry Franco’s name in the list of current Chelsea players. Well, they can be lazy bums as ever (it took them few weeks to replace JM with Avram) but at least the news bit (of three lines or less) should have been there. Franco, who cost us a whopping 7 million pounds would be Grant’s first signing for Chelsea. It’s not entirely official and that’s where it stands.

Branislav Ivanovic – Very similar to the Franco situation, but less secure here. But, I don’t think there would be too much of a problem here. Mostly, whenever Roman wants someone, he gets his man. It is reported that Roman wants Ivanovic for Chelsea and has thwarted the attempts from Man Utd. At 8.9 million pounds, he is more expensive than Boulahrouz was, 18 months back. At hindsight, I feel Boulahrouz was hard done by, to some extent. Remember, he played only for 13 matches for us, of which he had about 3-4 good games including the one where he had a certain Ronaldinho in his wallet. When he returned from injury, he played rather impressively only to get injured again. Bad luck. Hope Ivanovic does better than Boulahrouz.

Royston Drenthe – Real Madrid bought only in the begining of this season for 10 million. Though he scored on his debut he has started only two matches so far. So, his agent has started talking. That’s as far as I can stretch it. I don’t see a 20 year-old, who joined Real Madrid, I mean Real Madrid in Aug 2007, leaving them for Chelsea in Jan 2008. But Real Madrid see him as a surplus player now. Schuster is trimming their whole squad. Look for some more heads to roll. On Drenthe, there was no rumour about the deal being a loan though.

Dimitar Berbatov – Ramos has set the price for Berb. It is 35 million pounds. That means we need to break the British transfer record (our own record . . he . . he) to land this man-in-form, at Stamford Bridge. Does a team like Chelsea, need a 27-year old striker costing 35 million pounds? Are we so goal scarce? Is it true that if we had a top quality striker upfront, we could be seeing Chelsea at No.1 or No.2 in the league? I don’t think so. Of course I’d love to see him in a Chelsea shirt but Man Utd are more interested and more likely to get him.

Tal Ben Haim and Steve Sidwell – They have a lot in common, don’t they? Take this with a pinch of salt. Big Sam is rumoured to have approached Grant to get Tal on loan. Avram has responded to Sam that he would only sell him and not loan him. With some people believing Terry won’t return until the end of the season, Avram has now decided to keep Ben Haim. Blackburn and Sunderland are interested in taking Sidwell on loan. With the kind of options we have in the midfield, also with an open chequebook, Sidwell should rather be sold than leaving on loan.

Wayne Bridge leaving Chelsea – This is pure speculation. But the speculation is so widespread that you’d have to take notice of this as something more than transfer nonsense. Wayne Bridge has been brilliant 8 out of 10 times he has played since he returned from loan. He has not only withstood the incoming challenge from Ashley Cole for his position, but also overshadowed him quite frequently. He is a superb player with loads of skill, pace and determination. I don’t want him to leave. I don’t think Avram would release anyone from defence. I don’t think he’ll take that chance. the news around Ivanovic and Drenthe just makes me add a little weight to the Wayne Bridge rumour. There are couple more bad news surrounding Wayne. One is he is valued at just 7 million (which is clearance sale price) and second is, the club rumoured is Liverpool (connect Heinze hijacked and Riise being bollocks). Most disturbing news of the week for me.

Let’s have a poll. Which species should we concentrate now? We seem to be looking for strikers, a defender, a right back, an attacking midfielder etc. Which should be our top priority this month?

{democracy:85}