Daily Mail reports that Tottenham has signed Carlo Cudicini for £1m. I know he’s too good a keeper not to get enough starts. He is 35 and he may have another 3 or 4 years to offer. With a world class keeper like Cech in the squad, he has very little chance of getting regular playing time. This season has been particularly bad for him. You know, in 04-05, he started in 11 matches, in 05-06 again started 11 matches, in 06-07 he started in 10 matches and in 07-08, he started in 16 matches. This half way through season, he has started 2 matches. He has a right to feel disappointed. His situation is the same that of Wayne Bridge. Quality player, but has a better quality player as the first choice.

Wayne Bridge was allowed to leave but we have not yet filled the place. Ashley Cole is certainly not the injury-free type of player. We should have a decent left back as a backup for Ashley Cole. If there is a any truth in this rumour about Cudicini leaving, I’d be sad but I’d also think about replacements. We had Hilario start 16 matches in 06-07 including home and away ties against Barcelona but I doubt if Scolari would play him and get the best out of him. If Scolari decided to leave Cudicini for Spurs, at least he could have commanded a better price! £1m for Cudicini? He is one of the best keepers in the premier league. I would only rate Cech, van der Sar and Reina over Cudicini. He is a first choice keeper in most of the teams. We could have certainly got a better bargain. He is worth £5m to £6m in my books. Should have done better there.

With Joe Cole also injured out for the season, we will be short of three players for the rest of the season. This means we should be getting reinforcements. Or Scolari would fill these gaps from the reserve or youth players at his risk. He has some hidden gems to replace Joe Cole. He can use Fabio Paim and the like. Or he may opt never to play the 4-3-3 for the rest of the season so he won’t miss Joe Cole much.

For those who thought that Scolari would offload Drogba this month, his stance on Drogba is very clear. He says that Drogba not being chosen was a tactical decision. There were some matches when Drogba was chosen ahead of Anelka but there were no stories about Anelka being shown the door. It’s just that anything about Drogba makes some spicy news. Allright, Drogba had a couple of poor matches. Tell me which Chelsea player did not have a couple of poor matches this season so far. Only Frank Lampard comes close but that’s because he is Frank Lampard.

There are rumours that we’re after Valencia and di Maria. I know very little about di Maria. I’ve heard that he is young, quick and dribbles well. I’ve seen Valencia in action. He is a very good player. Is he Chelsea material? Well, he can be. Can he be consistent? Possibly. He is a good option to have in the team. If not anyone else, a player like Valencia who gets to join Chelsea from Wigan, would have all the hunger, desire and determination. And he is worth, hold your breath, £20m says Steve Bruce. With Man Utd, Real Madrid and Chelsea chasing, any player would be worth more than £15m, wouldn’t they?

And for you folks, Roman Abramovich has clearly declared that he has no intention of selling the club. He’s even gone a step further. He is suing Times for publishing a front page news that he is considering the selling of Chelsea. Think about those stories of Roman choosing between his yacht and Chelsea. Rubbish. Rubbish. Rubbish.

Meanwhile, Peter Kenyon has talked about the positives of Man City’s rise. For once, I agree with him completely. In fact this quote from him looks like an excerpt of an article I had written earlier on this topic:

We are delighted not to be the richest club any more and other clubs may spend more without having as much success on the pitch. This would dispel the idea that we have just bought our titles. We have taken sound financial decisions recently regarding trimming costs.

Well, he also said something about best players not being available mid-season. Hope Anelka would not mind it. I mean I’m kidding. I know Peter was talking also from the players-being-cup-tied angle.

That’s it for now. See you later. Oh wait, I can’t finish this without talking about Kaka story right?

Berlusconi once again proves what he’s made of. He is a politician first and anything else later. He managed to take full mileage out of this whole issue at the cost of imperial wrath. At more than £100m, it would have been a wise decision for Milan to sell Kaka and get three of four quality young players. Kaka wants to be in Milan and that’s his choice. As I said earlier, this transfer would have been good for football, on the whole. Poor Man City! Now, who’ll they be after? Messi? Aguerro?

It’s going to be a exciting finish to this transfer window too.