£100 million to splash for Ancelotti?

[kalpitv]

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH WANTS MILAN ACE

Carlo Ancelotti will start with two 'stellar signings'

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH will welcome new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti by splashing out £100million.

Milan ace Alexandre Pato is top of owner Rom's hitlist. Ancelotti takes over on Wednesday and will be unveiled a week tomorrow with billionaire Abramovich keen to celebrate his arrival by clinching as least two "stellar signings".

Chelsea will make a fresh £50m offer for AC Milan's Brazilian striker Pato, 19, after their £45m bid was rejected.

The Blues have already clinched a £19m deal for CSKA Moscow winger Yuri Zhirkov, 25, with Manchester City's 19-year-old Daniel Sturridge another done deal.

Ancelotti has handed Chelsea a wish list of stars to pursue which includes Pato's AC Milan colleague Andrea Pirlo, Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery, Liverpool duo Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso and Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

Ancelotti is also ready to offer new £125,000-a-week deals to striker Didier Drogba, left-back Ashley Cole and midfielder Michael Essien as he bids to land Rom the Champions League crown he covets.

But newly-married England ace Joe Cole and Portugal defender Jose Bosingwa could be on their way out of Stamford Bridge.

Middlesbrough keeper Ross Turnbull, 24, will be on the payroll alongside Zhirkov and Sturridge by the time Ancelotti meets his squad for the first time next week.

Boro's England Under-21 star Adam Johnson, 21, and Charlton prospect Jonjo Shelvey, 17, are also targets.

News Of The World

The very source of this article may put half of you off it. However, it's great news if Abramovich wants to back Ancelotti with all the money he can and I'm all for it.

More so, this article seems to suggest that it's Pato we are chasing and not Aguero. And I am much more in the favour of contrary as I think Aguero is a much more versatile player as he can score a good amount of goals and turn supplier as well while Pato is an out-and-out striker (which we already have in Drogba, Anelka, Di Santo and possibly Sturridge).

[Ruh Buh Juh]

CARLO ANCELOTTI officially takes over as Chelsea manager this Wednesday - but the reality is he's been working non-stop on Blues' business since May.

And that means the Italian coach can hit the ground running as he takes the helm at Stamford Bridge.

One of the first things he did after being confirmed in the job was to phone Chelsea captain John Terry and vice-captain Frank Lampard for a long chat with the club's two most influential players.

He also asked Chelsea to forward all the medical records of the players - including an analysis of their personalities and characters. Ancelotti then requested detailed DVDs of every member of the squad, not just during matches but in training.

And for the past few weeks he has studiously gone through all of the information to ensure he knows as much as possible about the players.That's how determined he is to make a winning start in SW6.

NOTW

Interesting article on what to expect when Charlie arrives. Let's hope it works!!

[kalpitv]

Yep, he seems very determined. All my good wishes to him.

A new era of hope. (we've heard it a much too often, haven't we?)

[blizeH]

£50 Pato

£50 Aguero

Done ;)

[TheWestwayWonder]

They are only bigging us up when it moves papers. "100 million!!!1111". I'm sure it will go back to "Pato snubs Chelsea" tomorrow.

I would absolutely love to get Alexandre Pato, but in this kind of market he would cost god knows how much. I hope we go out and try and get the 'next Pato' because there are a ton of young talents out there looking to make the jump to a big CL team

[Gem]

I hope all that is true, we can't afford to be lagging behind other teams in signings and training etc.

[Ruh Buh Juh]

£50 Pato

£50 Aguero

Done ;)

£50?!

Better add Ribery, Benzema, Sneijder, Robben and Satan to that list if we're getting Aguero and Pato for £50 ;)

[blizeH]

Heh ;)

To be fair, if we genuinely have that much available, then as far as I'm concerned we need attacking players more than we do defensive players or even midfielders (assuming we play a similar formation, where we could play Malouda/Cole on the left, and Anelka/Aguero on the right) so if it costs our entire budget for those two, it'd be worth it.

[geezer]

Exactly why I never bought into the theory laid down by some that he would wait until he met all his payers before deciding who stays and who goes. Any top level manager is going to have done his homework first and know exactly what he's taking on.

[jordanl5182]

£100m? Our target list probably consists of Ross Turnbull and Benjani...

[Virosh]

Very good news if that's true. Lets hope such industriousness can continue throughout.

[clubhappy]

While our spending power is still strong , im concerned our recent history of paying big money for players is laughable. Sheva, SWP, Veron, Mutu, and the rumours of Pirlo is a joke. We badly need to start seeing money thrown into our youth system but at the same time not waste stupid money in transfer market by signing players who just want to play in the premiership . Ibra , good player but a lazy c**t who wont perform against the big teams , and to me its a desperate attempt to get a biggish name in before the new season.

[Elliott]

Next week on Jackanory!!!....

[The Moos]

While our spending power is still strong , im concerned our recent history of paying big money for players is laughable. Sheva, SWP, Veron, Mutu, and the rumours of Pirlo is a joke. We badly need to start seeing money thrown into our youth system but at the same time not waste stupid money in transfer market by signing players who just want to play in the premiership . Ibra , good player but a lazy c**t who wont perform against the big teams , and to me its a desperate attempt to get a biggish name in before the new season.

True, some (most) of our big/expensive signings hasn't paid off. In the beginning I don't actually think we thought things thru enough when we bought players. We suddenly had lots of money and we got carried away.

On the other hand players like Mutu and Crespo had the potential to pay off. Unfortunately Mutu decided to try out some mysterious white powder and Crespo felt homesick. But while they played I think they did really well (or was that only a dream?).

After that we have spent our money more wisely. Players like Drogba and Essien cost alot, but they turned out to be worth every penny.

Therefore I've learnt to trust the club more. Nowadays they seem better at spotting the right players for us.

As for the rumours we shouldn't put to much faith into them. I mean, Ibrahimovic wont sign for us. There are rumours, yes but not only do I think he will stay at Inter for atleast another season, if he would leave I don't think Chelsea would be his first choice. Spain would be more appealing for him.

I do think we will sign a big name this summer and I don't think that's a bad thing. Gone are the days when we had money and splashed it out on any big name we could think of (Veron, Crespo etc.). I feel confident that the club do their homework better now and the big player we sign (if we sign any) will probably be someone that we need and who the club feels would make us better.

And as for our youth section. I think we've invested alot of money there already. It has become so much better. Sure we haven't signed a handful of famous young talents who are all "the next Maradona" or "the next Pele", but we're getting there. And I think we've got some interesting players there already. I mean, Stoch and Kakuta might become really good. We've also signed (atleast I think we have) Sebek who is said to be the next Cech.

So it's getting better and better.

Hopefully some of our current youngsters will one day make it into the first team and get a regular spot in the starting eleven. We've had some bad luck with players like Sahar and Sinclair (not sure if we can discard him yet), but I doubt we're alone. Even Arsenal have some players that wont turn out as superstars.

[mad_mac]

Already seems to be much more thorough than Scolari ever was!

[mad_mac]

The article says that we've already signed Zhirkov, do they know something I have missed?

[TheWestwayWonder]

The more I hear about Ancelotti the more I like him. I was one of the ones who thought there were better options, but he is definitely changing my opinions in a hurry.

A man as astute as this is totally at odds with the old "How did Ancelotti let that squad in Milan get so old?" stereotype

[rahul]

The article also says we're going to sell Joey and Bossy. Trash!

[sdsdsdsd]

Considering we've signed Zhirkov who do u guys think will have a better year Malouda or Zhirkov and who shuld be our 1st choice left winger

[evissy]

Considering we've signed Zhirkov who do u guys think will have a better year Malouda or Zhirkov and who shuld be our 1st choice left winger

Well who knows if we have signed him or not but I'm really glad if we did. Zhirkov is brilliant player yet to peak. If we have signed him we have sone what was needed. Get cover for Ash and competition for Malouda. Very smart IMO.

I hope they will be competing head to head so both will be in great shape all the time. That is the ideal situation anyway. Malouda wull start and if he is misfiring Zhirkov will be used as sub after 60mins,

If we end up signing Zhirkov, Sturridge and one star quality player I will be very happy. And also get rid of the older players..

[Uno]

I would be very unhappy if Coley was sold. He is one of those players who can open the door with a bit of skill or a deadly pass. His pass to Drogba against Valencia (i believe) was outstanding.