Yay! First comment.

want to see Deco in action. (by the way Used to be mike)

Goal.com's at it again: Chelsea Launch Mega Kaka Bid. LINK

It's entirely possible there's an element of truth to these stories. Then again.

Makas leaving for PSG according to SSN.

We want Kaka and this story seems more confident than previous reports:

LINK

Better value than Ronaldo now Robinho's staying.

Oops a bit late on my link.

Maka's departure for PSG isn't really a surprise given the amount of speculation over the past few weeks. It's understandable too. Sad to see him go but hopefully the up side will be more games for Mikel Obi.

Way to go Spurs. You won't hear me say that often.

LINK

It's about time someone pulled Sir Rednose and Tubby on their amazing levels of hypocrisy and sheer brass necks. Both these fuckwits have incessantly complained about approaches from other clubs for their players, specifically Ronaldo and Torres/Gerrard, and then have the temerity to circle 3 Point Lane hunting down Berbatov and Keane. Spurs might be fucking idiots, but even there surely not fucking idiots to such a degree as to sell both their lead strikers? I hope Manure and Liverscum both get censured but something tells me the FA/PL will bottle it yet again.

Now if it was us........

Oh, one more thing...

LINK

Can some please explain to me exactly what jurisdiction the FA have over a groundsman? Surely, if you're a groundsman you can just tell them to fuck off? Do groundsman have to sign up the FA Code of behaviour? Does this apply to anyone who works for the club?

On Maka, good luck if he's going. If he stays then surely it has to be as a bench player and not first choice?

So it's Maka and Sidwell who've left before the games in Asia. Only 5 more to go. Harry will surely bid for SWP soon, TBH could sign for Man City at any time during pre-season as it looks like he's somehow negotiated his way onto the plane in hope of impressing Phil despite us having 7 centre backs: Ricky, JT, Ivanovic, Mancienne, Alex, TBH, Boulahrouz. He's gotta go. Belletti is searching for a club. My bet is that he'll end up at Panathanaikos with Henk. As for Boulahrouz, no-one seems willing to buy him. Another one of those famous Chelsea loan deals of a failed import who ends up getting forgotten like Veron and Crespo look slikely. And finally there's Pizarro! He still looks hilariously overweight. Must be on the Wayne Rooney regime of a ciggy and a kebab before every training session as he must have failed to impress our great leader whilst training. A mystery injury found on the eve of the flight to China? Something tells me that our new PR Officer isn't much of an improvement if he's leaking these types of stories.

I'm loving the Kaka story as it seems quite certain of a possible deal. On paper everything adds up. Roman wants a star name, Phil wants a star attacker, Kaka loves Phil for giving him his debut, Roman's got a spare €100m and Milan are in debt. What's the hold up? The only problem is no star name EVER wants to come to Chelsea. We wanted and have been rejected by Kaka, Messi, Aguero and Torres. But whilst there hasn't been a denial i can live in hope.

Although you know silly season's begun when you read this:

LINK

Would love it to happen but compared to this, the Kaka story seems like 100% fact.

And on Spurs, we all hate them but well done for telling Rafa and Fergie to fuck off. They think they can compain to Fifa about tapping up one day and then do the exact same thing the next. At least we have the class to openly admit that we go behind club's backs to poach their players!

This sums of the hypocrisy of their tapping up:

LINK

"A less scrupulous way is to set up a clandestine meeting with the player (and of course his agent), and arrange a deal behind the back of the club to whom he is contracted. The player, duly unsettled by the riches on offer, then becomes disaffected enough with his employers to make the move virtually inevitable. This method is known as “tapping up” or “doing an Ashley.”

"Nor was the Hargreaves case an isolated one. United have a bit of previous, as a recap of the unsettling tactics they employed to secure the signings of Jaap Stam, Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick would reveal."

But as we all know Fergie will get away with it. Just like Rio did for kicking our staff and Fergie did after unleashing a tirade of abuse against the Ref when Pompey knocked them out of the Cup last year. But for the only time in history... come on Spurs. Tell Fergie where to stick his bid for Berbatov!

Habs - Do you ever sleep?

Anyway, the Kaka story is headline news in the Guardian too. LINK

There must be something to the rumours. Kaka as a replacement for Lampard? I can live with that.

Completely off-topic: I just watched Neil Marshall's Doomsday (he also directed Dog Soldiers and The Descent, both pretty good). Doomsday is probably the stupidest film I have ever seen, a really bad pastiche of too many films to mention. I don't know, give an independent film-maker a big budget and they produce garbage...

Time for bed.

I also just read the Guardian/ Great news for Kaka with quotes drom his agent:

"Real Madrid offered €90m last summer and Milan did not even think about the bid," said Kaka's personal assistant and closest adviser, Diogo Kotscho. "This time is different. This is the first time we feel that a deal will definitely happen. Because of the [financial] situation Milan are in at the moment, the deal is good for all parties involved.

"The move would represent a significant increase in Kaka's salary, on top of the 10% transfer fee that goes straight to the player anyway - some €15m. Chelsea are the club to be at right now. They are building a team to win everything."

Kaka in the no. 10 position would finally be the hier to Zola. Could it result in the return of the real Sheva?

I meant heir...must be the need for sleep resulting in errors.

Also just seen on SSN about Maka leaving for PSG. They say he's going for a medical on Saturday (do they mean today?) and will leave on a free transfer..As NICK says, his departure will hopefully mean more starts for Obi Mikel but i will miss him loads all the same...it's the end of an era at CFC!!! LOL.. I wish him the very best of luck x x

Regarding McFergie and Fatty Benitez, i agree..it's outrageous how they're behaving. It's only when you sit back and take into account Ferguson's recent comments regarding Horse Face and Real Madrid, that you realise how much of a hypocrite the man is! Well done Spurs for reporting them both, not that anything will get done about it! Fergie is the original "untouchable"..any more untouchable and we'll have to star calling him Elliot (Mc)Ness!!!

Pleased to see that tw*t Evra got charged as well after behaviour at the Bridge. The only suprise there is that it took so long!!

I knew it! I knew it! I've commented many times that Roman would go for Samba boy Kaka...

Roman says, "I know what I want and I want it now!"

Kaka is such a good-looking man too, like a super male model! Hopefully he will come to Chelsea, then I'll have another idol to worship! :-)

I really don't agree with comment #7 where it says that no star player ever wants to come to Chelsea. How do mean that? Ballack, Drogba, Carvalho, Terry and so on aren't star players? I mean c'mon, we have a bloody allstar team. I'm living in London for 2 years now and one of the reason why I started supporting Chelsea was because it was the first time I could watch such a worldclass selection of players. Given the fact that from this blog I have really learned how underachiving Chelsea was in the past I think Chelsea is the "creme de la creme" of the Premiership. Of course, Messi and Kaka are massive names but not bigger than some of players we already have.

From Milan's official website:

MILAN - With regard to statements published today by English daily "The Guardian", Vittorio Mentana, director of communications rossonera, reaffirms "Kakà is absolutely not for sale".


But don't worry, in ten days I'm sure we'll be on the verge of signing him. Again.

So apart from Ferreira and Deco swapping numbers, nothing much happened for the last 5 days. Where are the new signings?

Hello all! Kaka is not coming....

Wow, real empty today.... Was it something I said? ;-)

Oh Dear.... Steve Sidwell OG on debut for Villa in the Intertoto! Good way to introduce yourself to the fans.

LINK

Kaka rumours seem a bit more believable this time around..... If Milan are as hard up as they say, then it would certainly help to pay for Ponaldinho.

LINK

Ballack can fill in the Lampard goal gap

SSN just reported that Drogba will not be travelling to China,he's staying behind to continue his rehabilitation on a knee injury.
This is also on the Chelsea website.

This has been kept very quiet,you have to wonder if it's the same injury that's stopping Pizarro travelling also.
Doesn't leave many options upfront,perhaps Scolari is trying to see what life would be like without Drogba.

It's also being reported that Kalou will probably be playing for the Ivory Coast in the olympics.
The final is on Aug23rd,so if they went all the way,he would miss a few games at least.
Hope the backroom boys have a new face or two in mind,would hate to start the season short of a few attacking options.

Dider's now got the same 'injury' as Pizarro to rule him out of the pre-season tour. It's the 'i need to stay with my agent to try and negotiate a deal to go to Milan' injury. Maybe this will help us. Chuck Didier into the Kaka offer and anything will happen. Even if he stays, by missing all of our pre-season games, he's gonna be shit this seson. Don't expect anything like his 30 goal season which still looks like a happy coincidence that he managed to score that many goals. Even Jose though it a surprise that he scored 30 goals and not his more usual 15.

With Kalou at the Olympics as well as Robinho if we sign him, Didier now injured, and no-one being signed, the home game against Pompey looks very tough. Their side's looking pretty good against our potential line-up:

James
Johnson Campbell Distin Hreidarsson
SWP Diarra Muntari Kranjcar
Crouch Defoe

Cech
Bosingwa Ricky JT Cole
Essien Lamps
Cole Deco ?
?

Who's going to play on the LW. Kaka? Only a 1% chance of that happening. Malouda? Please Phil, do not play him. Arshavin? More likely than Kaka. Kakuta or Sinclair? Phil does like blooding youth.

Could this possibly be true:

LINK

With Malouda, Pizarro, SWP and possibly Didier all going, and Kalou at the Olympics it looks like Sheva's going to be leading our attack with either Sinclair or Kakuta being given a chance.

@7 haberdashers - loved the 3-way chain story. I see the Sunday Times is touting a 3-way domino story today if we get Kaka but it strikes me the complete-the-circle chain idea is much more fun and could see us through some of the duller bits of the transfer window, so:

who can come up with the longest length complete chain of swop transfers, all plausible by sports journalist standards - with bonus points for involving as many different countries too, I'd suggest?

To get us started here's a 4-way conversion of the Sunday Times story:

CHELSEA buy Kaka from AC MILAN who buy Adebayor from ARSENAL who buy Roque Santa Cruz from BLACKBURN who buy Pizarro from CHELSEA .....

cech
ferreira jt ricky a. cole
obi
ballack lampard
deco j.cole
drogba

*if lamps and drogba stay

A few more players didn't travel.This is from The Mail online.

While Didier Drogba, Claudio Pizarro, Tal Ben Haim and Juliano Belletti were left behind, Lampard headed to China ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, the opening match of a trip which will move on to Macau, Kuala Lumpur and finally Moscow for the Railways Cup.

Almost certain to be on their way out of Stamford Bridge are Ben Haim, Pizarro and Belletti. Ben Haim should seal a £5m move to Manchester City this week if he can agree personal terms, with the defender anxious to maintain the £60,000-aweek salary he currently enjoys.

Belletti is a target for Benfica and Pizarro may join former team-mate Claude Makelele at Paris Saint-Germain.

Looks like Scolari has started his pruning of the squad already.

It's nice to see all the crap being left behind to negotiate their future clubs, but how did SWP manage to sneak on. Did no-one notice him sitting next to all the first-team stars like Essien (well done on getting another new contract, despite signing one last season! While Frank's struggling to get one, in the same time Essien's got two!)?

It'll be interesting to see who starts up front for these games in preparation for Pompey, as we'll be without Kalou, Didier, Robinho (Olympics if we get him). By the time we get to Russia we may see Samuel Eto'o put on the blue shirt after making the short trip from the other side interested in him - Uzbekistan side Kuruvchi. Don't be surprised if we miss out on Kaka, Robinho, Arshavin,Villa, Silva and end up with Eto'o.

'Portsmouth clear-out to bring in Shaun Wright-Phillips'. LINK

Essien isn't greedy and accepted a new £80,000-a-week contract, unlike Lampard who wants almost double that a week.

I wasn't in any way criticising Essien. He must have a really good agent to get him a new contract so quickly whilst Steve Kutner continues to 'negotiate'. On Lamps there does seem to be a greater chance that he'll sign. He'll definitely stay on for this year and as Inter say they are looking for alternatives (Alonso or Marek Hamsik), Lamps and his agent could be left with no option but to sign on for a stingy £140k/wk with us. That's the plan anyway.

On Essien i do think that his loyalty could be rewarded soon. IF Lamps does decide to leave, why not give Essien the vice captaincy? In the long-term Ballack and Didier are too old to be made VC's and i personally don't like goalkeepers as captains. With JT finding new injuries every few months, it would be nice to see Essien lead the side out.

The Telegraph reported:

Last week, more than 3,000 Inter fans turned up at Inter's training ground to watch Mourinho's first session in charge of Inter. The extent of the fans' passion made their mark on Mourinho.

They chanted, "Mourinho, bring us Lampard!... Mourinho, bring us Lampard!..."

----------

Again, I feel ashamed being a Chelsea fan... All I hear from many Chelsea fans are just heavy criticism on Lampard labelling him as greedy, money grabber, etc.; they would rather save Roman's money than keep Lampard at Chelsea.

If you love Supa Frank, stand by the man and tell the ruthless businessmen of the broad to give him the 5 year contract he rightly deserves. Show some passion and appreciation for Lampard like the Inter fans did!

Maka to PSG ... what will become of A Real Makelele Fan Called Sara???

Petr Cech has also signed a new deal today, according to the Press.

Let's hope it is the Petr Cech of 2 years ago, and not last season's version that signed the new deal.

@ SimonT.... I read that Mourinho article too and my reaction was to wonder whether the Italian fans are really that keen on Frankie, or is it just a case of Jose being seen as the Messaiah.

Whilst we at Chelsea have always appreciated his value, I can't see Mancs, Scousers, Spuds or Gooners vigourously clamouring for his signature! I still can't help but feel though, as much as he has been a class act, that if 140 grand a week for 4 years isn't enough, it might be time for a change.

So, no Drogba on the plane to the far east. I guess that means no goals in pre-season for us then.

Why on Earth do half the posters think that Sheva is going to come good this season ?? He's done pretty much naff all in the time he's been at the club, under JM who is a great coach and AG who wasn't. Why is there a belief he'll excel in a team of Scolaris when he's been anonymous in the reserve games hes played ??

I have nothing against him, but he's had his chances. He just doesn't look up to it any more. Although he looks about 100 times more threatening up front than Pizarro. I'm all for the kids to be given a chance (I presume Sinclair and maybe Di Santo have boarded the plane) but whether DD stays or goes, at this moment, I'm really, really worried about the state of our attack for the new season. If DD has his injury problems again, I just can't see us scoring many goals. Particularly as Lampard will have gone.

And let's give the Kaka story all the credibility it deserves. By ignoring it.

Makalele has left CFC today after 5 years of service. I assume its PSG, but the club haven't said anything as yet other than he's leaving.

A big thank you is due to Claude Makalele. Under Jose our defence was tighter than a duck's proverbial, and the credit for that goes to Maka. As much as anyone our back-to-back titles were down to him.

Age has begun to catch up in the last year, but I am certain he leaves with the best wishes of everyone....Especially Sarah!

Well this looks more promising on the transfer front of a certain Brazilian.
LINK

Huge thanks to Maka for his years with us. Even though I know it was inevitable, it still feels like a kick in the teeth. I always felt more relaxed knowing he was playing (except last season!). At least he went with dignity and respect for the club....good luck Maka! I know he'll always get a great reception at the Bridge if we ever come up against him....

i quote you wholeheartedly Dez. sad sad day.

Just on the BBC's football gossip column:

Chelsea to smash world record transfer fee with a 150 million Euro offer for Kaka

LINK

@35 Fifty - "And let's give the Kaka story all the credibility it deserves. By ignoring it" - I'd be with you on that sentiment except possibly the 2 biggest liars in football have spoken on the matter in the last 2 days: Galliani claiming we've made a bid [again] and Kenyon denying it - so I'm starting to wonder which one of them has broken habit of a lifetime?

Also see Alexander Hleb revived the badge-kissing season the other day at Barca...

Tony,

Can we have a Claude Makalele appreciation thread here on this blog? I really think all the Chelsea fans should pay him respect for his enormous contributions to our success for the last 5 years and bid him a good farewell.

@BBD,

I was just about to mention Hleb had been chalked off in the 'new signings unveiled in traditional manner' book I've been keeping. Disappointed at the lack of pen-based photos of new signings.

I'm wonderring if Maka will display a similar trait on the return to his homeland.

I'd side with Galliani lieing on the Kaka front. Anything to bring a bit of attention to a side that's 'only' in the UEFA Cup and has just taken a risk on a buck-tooth Brazilian has-been. Again.

I'd go so far as to say it's more likely we'll see Claude Makelele playing for Chelsea next season than Kaka. And you can all quote me on that.

Because, lets face it, if I'm wrong, I'll be very happy.

Also, anyone know the actual list of who boarded the plane yesterday ?? Can't see anything on the official site and I'd be interested to know who's gone.

Prospective of having Robinho seems to me more real than Kaka. Frankly speaking I do not want us to pay some crazy amount of money for any player even for Kaka!

If we do sign Robinho then I should imagine there might be "squeaky bum time" quite early in the season for Utd and their supporters with regard a certain player.

Thanks for everything Maka. Amid the lunacy of Roman's first summer, that was the one that stood out as actually being halfway sensible.

Afternoon all,

Back at the coal face after a week wandering over hills (towards public houses, mainly).

Adieu then Maka - a very fine servant to the club who goes with my very best wishes; many great memories but his performance against West Ham at the Bridge when we were 1-0 down and reduced to 10 men stands out for me - rarely seen a better individual display from anyone in a Blue shirt.

How much have we offered for Kaka now then? Surely we're reaching the point where buying a small South American country and all of its footballers, gems and rough diamonds alike, would work out slightly cheaper?

@44 Fifty - I came across this list on one of the chat sites - not read anything anywhere that suggests this is wrong - other than that Ballack is joining up late rather than travelled with the squad:

List of those who travelled apparently:

Nicolas Sebastien Anelka,
Jose Bosingwa Da Silva,
Michael Ballack,
Wayne Michael Bridge,
Ricardo Carvalho,
Petr Cech,
Ashley Cole,
Joseph Cole,
Carlo Cudicini,
Anderson Luis De Sauza [Deco],
Franco Matias Di Santo,
Alex Rodrigo Dias Da Costa,
Michael Essien,
Paulo Renato Rebocho Ferreira,
Henrique Hilario,
Branislav Ivanovic,
Saloman Armand Kalou,
Frank James Lampard,
Florent Malouda,
John Obi Mikel,
Andriy Shevchenko,
John George Terry,
Shaun Wright Phillips.


And those that didn´t:


Drogba
Makelele
Belletti
Pizarro
Ben Tal Haim

They've taken Malouda along? To sell as panda feed, presumably?

Guessing that Ballack got a slightly longer break due to his extended participation in the Euros.

will we get KaKa this season?

I think he would be a great signing for the future of the Bridge. Now that AC have acquired Ronaldinho, him and KaKa do not set well.

and it appears SimonT has a little thing for him!!!!

Looks like Belletti and Ben Haim are next on the list to leave. Departures so far: Sidwell to Villa for 5m, Boulahrouz to Stuttgart for 5m? and Makalele on a free transfer. Thats 3 players. So i presume theres about 4 more to go.

And i did prefer Kaka over Robinho or we should seriously try for David Silva. Among the 3, Silva is cheaper and Robinho is more realistic though Kaka is the obvious choice. But i dont want us to make the right choice and not regret in the future. So choose carefully Scolari. All 3 players are bloody good. My first choice would be Kaka and Silva followed by Robinho though.

@BBD,

Thanks very much. I wonder if Sinclair will be joining up now Englands participation in the U19 Championships in the Czech Republic is over.

Di Santo's an interesting one - not sure if he's being taken along for the 'experience' or because he figures firmly in Scolari's plans. Time will tell.

Sorry to sound all 'Lolli about Lampard' in my admiration for that Spanish striker, but the rumblings I heard this morning appear to be true : "Valencia will sell striker David Villa and winger David Silva in order to balance the books. (Marca and Las Provincias, 1334 BST)"

We could probably get both for the astonomical price we're being touted for Kaka.

Lets get it done. A goal-scorer is definitely required for the new season, if not the Railways Cup in a few weeks. Unless Di Santo becomes the surprise package.

I hope we get a chance to see Maka back at the Bridge some time so the home fans can make it clear how much we appreciated him. In the two title-winning seasons it was (as usual) other players that grabbed everyone's attention, but, especially in 05-06, there's really no doubt that he was the standout player. I doubt we'll ever see that position played as well again. Even last winter I kept noticing him popping up in the right place, always always exactly where an extra man was needed, and somehow you could never quite see how he'd got there so fast. The art of keeping possession in tight spaces is something we hardly ever see in the Premiership, and it was a joy to watch it being done so well. Wonderful player, and along with Franco probably the only truly irreplaceable genius we've lost in recent years.

As for the who's-coming-who's-going stuff, just remember the golden rule: They Have To Write Something. ("Injured Player In Not On Plane Shock!")

I hope both Maka and Zola turn up at the Bridge in coaching roles in the not to distant future. I believe the contract Maka's been given by PSG is for two years playing, two years coaching, so you never know.

What several of the transfers in and out of Chelsea so far have told us is that there's often a grain of truth to the rumours in the press; it's just a case of sorting the wheat from the chaff.

The Deco transfer was all over the papers long before the club declared an interest in him. Sidwell was linked with Villa almost as soon as last season ended. Likewise Maka and PSG. Hopefully this indicates that the rumours that Ben Haim is off to City, Belletti to Benfica, Malouda on-loan to Roma, Pizarro to wherever are true.

And one or more of Robinho, Kaka, Villa etc. will end up at the Bridge before the end of August! ;-)

Clutching at straws? (Too many idioms.)

Who you calling an idiom?:)

@56 chelseablog - it's the cynical use of the media by agents/players to tout for new clubs/ get an improved contract with their current club that gets tedious - on which, seems like we've served our purpose with Robinho who suddenly says "I want to stay at Real Madrid for a long time" again today:

LINK

Relax Dezmond - have you got a chip on your shoulder?

Well that went down like a lead balloon.

Only another 163 to go LINK

As you can see I'm at a loose end

I'd like to join everyone here in wishing Maka the very best of luck..he's an absolute star in my eyes and i will miss him SO much, especially that little "I didn't do anything wrong, Ref!" smile of his....GOOD LUCK CLAUDE!! x x

Also, congratulations to both Essien and Petr for signing new deals. I was very pleased with that news when i heard it this morning. Well done boys..

@ 35. FIFTY

Spot on! My thoughts exactly..
P.s. If it was a contest between you, me and SimonT on our appreciation societies, i reckon you'd win by a mile with your "Spanish Striker" infatuation..don't you? ;))

I hope Maka was misquoted in this interview.

New Paris Saint-Germain signing Claude Makelele has fired a parting shot at Chelsea, saying he wanted to leave for a long time.

Makelele revealed that he had wanted to leave Chelsea since last year as he gradually slipped out of the first-team picture.

"My desire was so strong that Chelsea gave me the possibility to finish my career in France, first of all, and at Paris Saint-Germain," he said.

Hope Maka has a good time in France,thanks Claude.

@56. blueboydave - To be honest I find most transfer speculation a bit tedious. I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting older and more cynical, or because it's not as exciting now that we can now afford to buy practically any player in the world. Probably the former. :-)

It looks like Robinho's agent achieved his goal, to double his client's wages. It wouldn't be a surprise to me if Kaka's agent is angling for an improved deal for his client. Maybe Ronaldinho is earning more? See, a cynic.

@62. Lolli - Looks like you will get to drool over Lampard for another season. Mourinho's willing and expecting to wait until next season before Lampard moves to the San Siro. LINK Reports in Italy say Inter are close to signing Pompey's Sulley Muntari in place of Lampard.

@ 64. NICK

If true, you would've made me the happiest girl in England tonight.
Have i ever told you that i love you?!

West Ham fans have been doing their bit to further the appeal of 'soccer' in the States. LINK

@65. Lolli - Steady on. :-)

@ NICK

LOL..

I heard about the Wet Spam fans this morning on SSN. They never fail to give English fans a bad name do they?
Ar**holes!!

They're an embarrassment..and should be ashamed of themselves.

What Maka supposedly said @ 63 ..... I guess he would have spoken in French so the tone etc in translation would come out different.
It is a testament to his skills that whenever the TV pundits speak about a defensive midfielder, they always use the term 'the Makalele role'.

@Mark25 #60

At a time where we are becoming ever more cycnical about the quality of information in the media I feel it was a masterstroke to draw our attention to the website you are currently mining for its nuggets of exemplary english usage, where one complete howler stands out, namely Buggles Turn.

As I live and breath I nearly choked. Some wires have been seriously crossed here and tend to suggest that the origins of this site lie not within this sceptered isle.

Buggins' Turn is of course the phrase they are looking for.

The Buggles, if memory serves me right, were a rather irritating pop combo fronted by Trevor Horn. They were responsible for "Video Killed the Radio Star".
As execrable a piece of work as has been produced in the annals of human endeavour.

Goodbye Maka and thanks. Its been a pleasure. I wish you the very best.

and even better, Boula has gone to Stuggart.

@69. BlueBayou - "They were responsible for "Video Killed the Radio Star".
As execrable a piece of work as has been produced in the annals of human endeavour."

I beg to differ.

LINK

Genius. ;-)

I loved it when it was released. I was eight years old.

The lyrics were inspired by the J.G. Ballard short story The Sound-Sweep... or so says Wikipedia. My something new for the day.

Morning fellow bloggers...

I see since I have been away that no much has happened on the signings front other than more ridiculous runours... 100M quid for Kaka... give me a break please.

Also the lack of 'action' has resulted in bloggers resorting to defining and using idioms and then talking about truely awful 80s pop songs... Please RA and PK give us something juicy to bog about !!!!

I will also pay my respects to Maka. I too loved his cheeky "who me" grin every time he chopped down an opposing player. In his role there is noone who comes close and probably no player will ever have the same influence on a game again. He is unique and before Maka noone talked about the holding midfielder role (well not in recent times anyway). He will be missed as even though he got a little slower he could still play his part.

@ Lolli.. hopefully your asleep now but had a fantastic time over the weekend and just sorry to come back and find no more progress on Frank's part, although it is promising he went to China! I think the true story will emerge soon from the man himself and we can put all these rumours to bed.

KTBFFH

Mmmmm... just read my post and realised I made a fraudien slip... "give us something juicy to 'bog' about"... Probably sums up some of the shyte reported in the media...

This 'story' seems to indicate that Zenit and probably Arshavin's agent is now fishing for bids...of around 15M or more. Can't believe he would choose to go to Spurs but if they do end up selling Berbatov and Keane they may have the money....

While he did shine for two games in the Euros I don't believe he is worth that much at 27... around 12M would be a better valuation...and the real question is can he perform in the EPL when not many others from his neck of the woods has made any impression.

LINK

@ Mark25,

Great stuff! I tried to come up with a suitable riposte but keep drawing a blank.

O.k, so this is taken from the piece about RA entertaining the guys from AC Milan :

"I was on Abramovich's boat," Galliani is quoted as saying in Marca. "I wanted to talk about Shevchenko and he wanted to talk about Kaka, but in the end nothing happened"

Now call me simplistic but surely a 'you can have Sheva and £'x'm in exchange for Kaka' type offer should be what we're looking at.

I guess it's good we're flogging the rotten bits of the deadwood, in some cases even making a profit (as much as £10m if TBH goes to Man Citeh) and then you realise how chronically awful some players were when we sell The Cannibal at a £6m loss. He's not even worth £6m.

As it stands, at not long after 9.20 a.m on 22nd July, I hereby give notice of the Fifty promise that Chelsea Football Club will not, I repeat not, sign any further players before the season starts. I will guaran-damn-tee it.