Good old Maka is gone. The very common thing that’s said about Maka is that you wouldn’t know the value of the man unless you make a conscious effort to see his impact on the game. He is quiet and goes about his job in a way which can easily go unnoticed. He is not a holding midfielder in the mould of a Roy Keane or a Patrick Vieira. Maka is cunning little ball winner who can be easily under-estimated by some for his apparent lack of visibility. The people who read the game well have always complimented him. That’s why Real Madrid president Calderon ridiculed Makelele at the same time Zidane hailed him as a hero.

The first title under Jose Mourinho was characterised by Robben, Duff and a certain Frank Lampard. They set the premiership on fire. But JM said that Maka was the player of the season for him. He had rated Maka’s contribution above that of anyone else. The credit for the good portion of our resoluteness of the defence and the resultant number of clean sheets would have to be given to Maka. Not only has he given his best every time he has stepped on the field for us, he has also been a great example to model for his understudies like Essien and Mikel.

His goals are quite memorable, well, he scored only two so we can remember. The first one was a penalty that he was requested to take which he missed and then finished the rebound. The second was the belter from 35 yards that almost stopped my heart. Sad that it did not win the match.Makelele has been a great player but it’s a shame that he could not play for us anymore.

I wish he had joined us when he was 26 or something. Anyway, he played 5 seasons for us and had a massive role in every single trophy that we won and we came close in that period. He might have lost his pace but he is the best I’ve ever seen when it comes to winning the ball and holding up the ball. In the French league, he can do really well. Remember, only in May, he had it in him to play all 120 minutes in the champions league final against Man Utd. I wish him all the best with PSG. I have had no favourites as such in the French league but I’m now going to cheer PSG to topple the Lyon dominance in France. Goodbye Maka! Thanks for all your efforts and wish you all the success with anything that you do!

If you missed it, Khalid Boulahrouz has been sold to Vfb Stuttgart. He was on loan to Sevilla last season but now he is not Chelsea anymore. So now, the players that have gone out are Makelele, Sidwell, Boulahrouz and Crespo. I also expect Shaun Wright-Phillips, Pizarro, Tal Ben Haim and Anelka. Before you pounce on me about Anelka, let me explain. Anelka’s last six months with us has been a disaster. For the kind of opportunties that he got, the return from him is negligible. It was a fitting finale for his season with Chelsea that his missed penalty lost us the champions league final. I can be tolerant with underperformance, like I’ve been with SWP all these years. What I despise is his perceived attitude. The post match remarks after the champions league final about him being not ready and all that were disgraceful. If I have to go by his own logic, Anelka came in at the 100th minute and missed the penalty while Belletti came in at 120th minute and scored his penalty. Enough said. Let’s get someone with more heart and spirit.

SWP has been a very well behaved boy. Still that does not help Chelsea’s cause. He does not add anything to the squad. For his kind of pace and dribble, he should at least be a super sub in the second half but he is not even that. He simply reduces the options available by being around and not really coming up with telling contributions. Chelsea’s interest in Robinho should mean the end for SWP’s quiet Chelsea career. I feel sorry for him but I think it is inevitable. I have no such feelings for Pizarro. He is just another version of Mateja Kezman. He was unfortunate that he did not get a continuous run of games but whenever he got his chances, he hardly made an impact.

It’s natural that Tal Ben Haim is going to find it hard to compete with likes of Terry, Carvalho etc but for him make one costly mistake per match he played was not what I expected. He just went the way Khalid did. Let’s get a decent back-up defender with a no-nonsense attitude. Oh I almost forgot, we have Ivanovic but wasn’t he rumoured to leave us before he even played his first game for us!

If you ask me, I’d keep Belletti and let Paulo leave. On Malouda, I’d wait to see the system Scolari wants to play. If it’s going to 4-5-1 or 4-4-2, I’d offload Malouda for someone like Tiger (I mean Schwe . . .) who is more pacy and skillful. And now, I need to clarify on Bosingwa. I don’t underestimate him. I was just saying that he is no Alves or Lahm. Bosingwa is a good right back and that’s it. I saw him in the Euro too and I also saw the goals that were conceded from his side. At least Scolari had chosen Bosingwa over Paulo for the right back role, which shows some confidence from the coach.

We have this first pre-season friendly tomorrow at China. The funny thing is I find it so hard to know the kick off time of the match. The official website says 13:00 and I’m not sure if it’s the local time at kick off or the UK time. If you know, let me know. Catch you soon.