The Chelsea Daily Drivel (Catch up)

The Chelsea Daily Drivel is a daily update of all the stories concerning our club, the rumours, the opinions and more....

So here is the latest from around the web on Saturday 17th July 2010 including: Essien is back for Palace later today, Alex speaks ahead of todays friendly, Drogba, Fernando Torres and Chelsea's £50m bid, Ashley Cole, New wonderkid Tomas Kalas reveals how he snubbed the Gooners for Chelsea and todays Drivel Giggle!


First to todays first pre-season friendly at Palace this afternoon. Carlo Ancelotti takes an unfamiliar looking side to Selhurst Park this afternoon with the majority of first teamers on extended leave due to their participation in the World Cup.

One player who missed the summer tournament but is back in training and that's "The Bison" Michael Essien. Carlo took time out to speak with chelseafc.com and said:

'It is six months out and I think that he will be excited to play tomorrow, Essien will start tomorrow, maybe for 45 to 60 minutes. I don't want to use players for all 90 minutes. It is the first game so we don't want to take a risk to put players out for 90 minutes.'

Great news for all Chelsea fans today to see Essien on the pitch. Let's hope today is a nice workout for him and he doesn't have any reaction at all..

Now to another first teamer taking part today and thats Alex. Alex also spoke to chelseafc.com about his pre season so far and the game today. He said:

'It is good to start the pre-season games after two weeks everyday with training, We start with what I think is a difficult game and we don't have many of the other players here yet, but we have a good group with the reserve team coming in to play a part and it is important to win the first game of pre-season.

It is good for us in training games because the young players never stop running, They are always up and down the pitch and it is good for your condition. You always have to pay attention. It has been good working together with players like Jeffrey and Michael Mancienne who are sometimes also as left back and right back.'

When I arrived here two weeks ago the doctors spent one training session with me in the morning but I felt good and I trained normally. I had a problem the last two pre-seasons but this season it's very good. I rested two months almost and now it is a double session each day but we need this for starting the season in one month.'

Now to more on Didier Drogba. It seems not only have Manchester City been reported in taking an interest in Didier but now Marseille are doing the same. Goal.com has reported that Marseille have contacted him a few weeks ago about returning to the club. They believe a fee of around 12m euros will be enough to get him as Goal is reporting that Drogba is aware of Chelsea's intention to bring in a younger forward to fresh things up at the club.

I can't see this one happening to be honest. If Didier decided to leave (which I doubt very much) then it would be for the money at City no doubt!.


Now to more on Fernando Torres and yesterday being reported virtually everywhere was the news that new Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson was stated as saying:

"I have met with Fernando. I found him to be a very pleasant man and we had a nice conversation, As far as we are concerned he is a Liverpool player and we want him to remain a Liverpool player. He is not for sale and we don't welcome any offers for him.

We want to keep him. My conversation with him was only short because I had to leave to come to the training camp in Switzerland. We spoke about football, the World Cup, his injury, and I told him how much I am looking forward to working with him. Christian Purslow was also at the meeting and chatted to Fernando for a lot longer after I left but my chat with him was only about football matters."

Funny that, because The Sun has this report on their website this morning.

The Sun is reporting that a Chelsea "insider" said:

"It's true Liverpool have knocked back the first bid of £40m but it's highly unlikely that will be the end to it. Let's see what happens when an offer of £50m lands on Christian Purslow's desk."

Same article reports that a Liverpool "insider" said:

"The club were quick to reject Chelsea's £40m bid and tell them Torres is not for sale. But the worry is it still won't be the end of it and that Chelsea will be back.
Fernando could kill the deal stone dead by coming right out and committing himself to the club. Hopefully he'll do that sooner rather than later."

It looks to me as if we have offered £50m its very hard for Liverpool to turn this down. Let's hope its true and we will find out more on this asap. The interesting thing is that Torres has never come out and denied anything so let's wait and see.

Now to Ashley Cole. Its seems that Chelsea have indicated to Real Madrid that it would take a £30m bid from the club to consider selling. Its either that or if Cole indicates that he wants to leave Chelsea. This story has been run by the Telegraph. Jose took his first training session at Real yesterday and now he is at the helm its left to Madrid to decide whether or not to make their move... more on this to follow..

Now to another of our new signings this summer Tomas Kalas. He has spoken of his delight at signing for Chelsea and revealed he turned down the advances of Arsenal to come to the blues!. He said:

"There were rumours flying around already during the spring, but at that time there were more clubs around me. It became more specific only after the U-17 European Championship in Liechtenstein in May. Chelsea scouts were present there. Then I, my dad and Olomouc were proposed a specific offer. But Mr Arnesen told me I had been on the list already before the Euro and they had been following me for two years.

Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim from the Bundesliga and apart from Chelsea also Arsenal (when asked who else was interested in him). I have been to both German clubs and also Arsenal, but the best impression was left on me by Chelsea.

People say that Arsenal are famous for their academy, but from what I could see during my days at Chelsea, that really impressed me. Even my dad thought of Chelsea as the best option. Moreover, I have been a Chelsea fan since I was a little kid.
I am convinced I have made the right decision by joining Chelsea. After all, by this I am making my dream come true."

Finally todays "Drivel Giggle" is aimed at Zlatan Ibrahimovic today. I had to laugh at an interview he has given about the speculation regarding his future. He said:

"I was a Barca player when I left (to go on holiday) and I'll be a Barca player when I go back, I have four years left on my contract. I want to congratulate everybody that has used my name, because it's fun to have been at Chelsea, at Manchester City, without having been there!.

I mean as if he thinks he's got a chance at Barcelona this season now they've signed David Villa!!.. Good luck with that Ibra!

more tomorrow..... Come on Chelsea let's get off to a good start against Palace!!

KTBFFH!